HAKE. 
517 
The nostrils lie near the eye, being separated from it 
by a distance which is V 3 of that between the eye 
and the tip of the upper jaw. The anterior nostril is 
round, the posterior crescent-shaped. The maxillary 
bones extend back to a line with the middle of the 
eyes, the distance between the tip of the snout and 
their hind extremity being often exactly half the length 
of the head". The lower jaw projects considerably 
beyond the upper, its length being about 61 % h of 
that of the head. Some of the teeth are large (3 mm. 
long in a specimen 42 cm. in length), firmly set, 
pointed, slightly recurved, and sparsely set in a single 
row, containing about 15 teeth on each side of the upper 
jaw. Besides these Ave find small teeth in both jaws, in 
the upper jaw between and within the large ones, and in 
the loAver jaw a roAv of fairly large teeth outside the for- 
mer roAv. The vomerine teeth- form a transverse semi- 
circle in the roof of the palate, being set in an irre- 
gular, double roAv. The pharynx is also furnished, as 
usual, with three dentated, upper pharyngeals. The 
tongue is fleshy, large, and flat. The gill-opening is 
fairly large, the upper margin of the operculum being 
free up to the lateral line near the occipital bones. 
The branchiostegal membrane is large, Avith exposed 
margin and 7 large, only slightly flattened rays. Un- 
derneath it is divided fonvard to the middle of the 
loAver jaAv. There is no trace of a barbel. The bran- 
chial arches are, as usual, 4 in number, and the hind- 
most gill-slit is rather narroAv. The gill-rakers in the 
outer toav on the first branchial arch are pectinal, 
but scattered, only 7 — -9 on each side; in the other 
toavs they are tubercular. 
The body is elongated, only slightly compressed, 
and broadly rounded at the dorsal and ventral mar- 
gins, each of these margins being furnished Avith a 
deep grooA T e in Avhich the dorsal and anal fins are set, 
and into Avhich they may be almost entirely depressed. 
As Ave noticed in the last forms of the preceding ge- 
nus, here too Ave find, in the hind parts of the dorsal 
and ventral profiles, at the spots Avhich correspond to 
the beginnings of the third dorsal and second anal fins 
in the preceding genus, a break from Avhich these pro- 
files converge more sharply toAvards the base of the 
caudal fin. The least depth of the tail is about 4 — 
4 7 g % of the length of the body or about 1 3 1 2 — 17 % 
of the length of the head. 
The lateral line begins at the sides of the occiput 
and runs almost straight, in a direction sloping slightly 
doAvmvard from the back, to the middle of the caudal 
fin. It is deeply depressed, sharply defined, and per- 
fectly naked. Along its Avhole length Ave find rather 
fine tubercles or projections, Avith the ordinary apertures 
for the passage of Avater to the sensory organs and for 
the discharge of mucus, set at intervals about equal in 
length to three .of the neighbouring scales. The first 10 
or 1 1 apertures are double, the rest simple, and the 
posterior ones rather indistinct. 
The vent is situated just in front of the beginning 
of the anal fin, Avhich lies far in front of the middle 
of the body, at about the beginning of the third fifth 
of its length c , a little behind or in front of the per- 
pendicular from the tip of the pectoral fin. 
The pectoral tin of each side is inserted beloAV the 
tip of the operculum. Its length is between about 14 
(sometimes only 12) and 1 6 1 / 2 % of that of the body. 
It contains 13 or 14 rays, the first of Avhich is rather 
small, the second 4 / 5 of the fin in length, and both simple. 
The other rays are doubly bifid, the sixth ray is the long- 
est, and the length of the last ray is % of that of the tin. 
The ventral fins are firm and elastic, in young 
specimens longer than or equal in length to the pectoral 
fins, in old ones shorter than the latter. They contain 
7 rays, the first simple and measuring 2 3 of the fifth, 
Avhich is the longest. The length of the last ray is 0 7 
of that of the fifth. Thus, as appears from the relative 
length of the rays, these fins are obtusely rounded, 
Avith even margin and Avithout any perceptible elonga- 
tion of any of the rays. 
The first dorsal tin begins close behind the perpen- 
dicular from the base of the pectoral fins, at a distance 
from the tip of the snout of between about 27 (sometimes 
26) and 29 % of the length of the body. It is almost 
triangular, and is generally composed of 10 or 11 rays, 
the first simple and in length 3 / 4 of the second, Avhich is 
the longest ray in the fin, measuring about 12 — 10 1 2 % 
of the length of the body, and, like the other rays, bifid. 
The last rays are small. The base of the tin measures 
9 — 9 Y 2 % (sometimes 10 %) of the length of the body. 
a Varying however, according to our measurements, between about 47 and 51 %. 
6 A r arying, however, between about 58 and Gl 1 /, %• 
c At a distance from the tip of the snout that varies between about 40 and 42 1 /., % of the length of the body. 
