ECHINORHINUS OBESUS.— Smith. 



Pisces. — Plate I. (Male.) 



E. obesus ; capite supra, dorsoque ad pinnam primam plumbeis ; dorsi partibus posterioribus, corporis 

 lateribus, abdomineque cupreo-flavis, purpureo brunneoque umbratis ; mento, nasi lateribus, maculaque 

 pone oculos albis; oculis cupreo-viridibus. 



Colour. — The head and back, as far as the first dorsal fin, dark leaden 

 grey; the rest of the back, the sides and the belly, pale coppery yellow 

 clouded with purple and brownish tints ; and the belly besides is marked 

 with blotches of light vermillion red ; the fins towards their bases reddish 

 brown tinged with dull grey, towards their extremities a lighter shade of the 

 same colour ; chin, sides of muzzle, and sometimes a spot behind the eye, dull 

 white ; eyes, coppery green. 



Form, &c. — Body very thick in proportion to its length, with only a slight 

 diminution in size towards the tail ; the back in front of the first dorsal fin 

 nearly straight ; the head flat above, and slightly sloping to the muzzle, 

 which is rounded ; nostrils transverse, and each partially divided by a narrow 

 membranous lobule, which projects backwards from its anterior margin ; their 

 position is nearly over the most projecting or central portion of the upper 

 jaw, considerably nearer to the eyes than the tip of the snout, and about half 

 way between the latter and the angle of the mouth. Eyes, rather nearer to a 

 line raised from the angle of the mouth than to the nostrils ; pupil, circular 

 and small ; postocular spiracle, scarcely visible. Gape, wide and arched, 

 having at each corner a triangular fold of skin formed by the union of the 

 upper and lower lips. Teeth regularly placed upon each jaw, only one 

 row in use at a time, the rest reclined ; they are large, compressed, and some- 

 what quadrangular, the cutting edges nearly horizontal, and both of their 

 sides are generally bicuspidate, (as will be seen by referring to the figures a 

 and b, where the former represent the teeth of the upper jaw, and the latter 

 represent those of the lower). Branchial openings all in front of pectoral fins ; 

 the first not much more than half the length of the fifth. Pectoral fins 

 rather small, the hinder edges nearly square ; the dorsal fins are small, the 

 first narrower at its base than at its extremity, which is slightly rounded ; 

 the second nearly throughout of equal breadth, the hinder edge almost 



