ELOPS CAPENSIS.— Smith. 



Pisces. — Plate VII. 



E. capite superne dorsoque subolivaceis ; corporis lateribus superne viridibus purpureo-tinctis ; lateribus 

 subtus partibusque inferioribus argenteo-albis ; dorsali analique pinnis ad basin vaginatis; pinnis pecto- 

 ralibus ventralibusque ad basin squamis membraneis marginatis, earumque posterioribus elongatis, 

 et acurninatis. 



Longitudo exempli descripti 26 unc. 



Colour. — The centre of the back, and the upper surface of the head oil- 

 green, with a brown tint; the remainder of the back and the sides superiorly 

 verdigris-green, tinted with lilac-purple ; the sides below the lateral line 

 silvery- white, faintly clouded with pink, blue, and yellow variegations. The 

 gill covers and sides of head a pale rose colour, variegated with pale purple, 

 and light saffron-yellow tints. Fins light greenish white, with yellow and 

 pink tints, the rays of the caudal and dorsal fins darkest. Eyes pale silvery 

 white, clouded with greenish and yellowish variegations. The whole of the 

 fish, with the exception of the fins, displays a strong mother-of-pearl lustre. 



Form, &c. — Figure rather slender, and somewhat fusiform ; sides slightly 

 compressed ; girth between hinder edge of gill covers and dorsal fin nearly 

 the same; beyond these it gradually diminishes as the distance increases; the 

 transverse diameter of the body, immediately before the dorsal fin, about two- 

 thirds of the vertical diameter. Head without scales, and measuring from 

 the tip of the lower jaw to the hinder edge of the gill covers, not quite one- 

 fifth of the total length of the fish ;* its profile cuneiform, the upper surface 

 slightly declivous, and marked between the crown and nostrils, with a broad 

 nearly lineal depression, the under surface strongly sloped upwards. Nostrils 

 double, and situated nearly half way between the eyes and apex of upper 

 jaw, both oval, the hinder one the largest. Eyes large and rounded. Max- 

 illary bones subovate, and each forming nearly two-thirds of the length of 

 the jaw ; rami of under jaw strong, and received within the upper, excepting 

 at the nose, where the lower jaw is rather the more advanced of the two. 

 Teeth extremely delicate, short, and closely set ; a narrow band (figs. A & B 

 a a) on the margin of the jaws, two clusters (fig. A b & c) on each side of the 

 palate, and one (fig. B C) which forms almost the entire of the upper surface 

 of the tongue ; the apex of the tongue in front of teeth thin and membranous. 

 Gill covers large, and branchial openings capacious ; operculum more than 

 twice the size of suboperculum ; preoperculum somew r hat triangular ; branchial 

 membrane with thirty rays, more than half of them within the rami of the lower 



* In a smaller specimen which I possess, the length of the head is considerably more than one-fifth of 

 the whole length ; in neither, however, are the measurements to be depended upon, as both specimens 

 have been skinned and stuffed. 



