SCYLLIUM VARIEGATUM— Smith. 



Pisces.— Plate XXV. Fig. 2. (Female.) 



S. superne purpureo-griseum maculis fasciisque nigro brunneis variegatum ; subtus flavo-griseum carneo- 

 tinctum ; cirris ultra labii superioris marginem porrectis. 



Colour. — The upper surface of the head, the back and the sides supe- 

 riorly lavender-purple, tinted with blackish purple, and variegated with 

 a profusion of small spots and some narrow longitudinal stripes of a blackish 

 brown colour ; the latter in some specimens continuous, in others broken, and 

 resembling strings of beads. The stripes are generally two in number on each 

 side, arise from the same point immediately over the eye ; and from thence, 

 as they proceed backwards, they diverge slightly, so that where they termi- 

 nate, under the base of the second dorsal fin, they are commonly about three- 

 quarters of an inch apart. Lower portion of sides and under parts of head 

 and body yellowish grey, with a flesh-red tint. Eyes brownish green, with a 

 bronze lustre. 



Form, &c. — Figure rather slender ; the head superiorly, nearly flat, 

 laterally, tapered towards the point of the snout, which is slightly rounded. 

 The hinder angle of the eye is directly over the angle of the mouth ; the 

 temporal spiracle is a little behind and below the angle of the eye, and rather 

 smaller than that of S. Pantkerinum. The upper jaw is considerably curved, 

 and the teeth of both jaws, like those of S. Africanum. Nostrils nearly 

 transverse, and in a great measure external of the cirri ; the latter are rather 

 slender, and each is edged, externally and internally, at its base, with a 

 narrow cuticular fold, and immediately external to the outer fold there is a 

 narrow portion of skin so projecting as to form a sort of second cirrus to each 

 nostril. The principal or internal cirrus extends directly backwards, and 

 its tip projects a little behind the edges of the upper lip. The caudal fin is 



