RETICULATED SPATULARIA. 36$ 



il'inged edges, as in the generality of fishes : the 

 body is moderately slender, subcyhndric, and taper- 

 ing towards the tail: the head is terminated by 

 9, very long, flat, and thin snout, nearly equalling 

 the length of the whole remainder of the animal : it 

 is perfectl}^ even on the edges, gradually dilated 

 towards the tip, and of a form not ill resembling 

 that of a spatula: the upper surface of this part 

 is divided by a longitudinal midrib or carina, while 

 the space on each side is marked with numerous, 

 slightly prominent lines or fibres, forming a kind 

 of reticular and somewhat stellated pattern : the 

 eyes are rather small : the mouth wide, placed 

 beneath the head, and furnished in the upper jaw 

 with a double, and in the lower with a single row 

 of sharp, curved, and serrated teeth : the skin oa 

 the whole body, so far as can be judged from small 

 specimens preserved in spirits, is smooth, and desti- 

 tute of visible scales : the colour is uncertain, but 

 the gill-covers appear marked with numerous spot^ 

 of a paler cast than the rest of the skin : the late- 

 ral line is strongly marked, and runs in a strait 

 direction from the gills to the tail, which is large 

 and strongly lunated : the dorsal fin is single, of 

 moderate size, of a somewhat falcated shape, and 

 placed rather beyond the middle of the back : th^ 

 pectoral and ventral rather small, and the anal 

 large. The internal parts of this fish, according to 

 the Count de Cepede, who professes to have ex- 

 amined a young specimen, exhibit nothing very 

 remarkable, except a pretty large air-bladder, which 

 proves this genus to be in reality more nearly allied 



