74 
ICHTHYOLOGY 
EETEROSCARUS PILAMENTOSUS. 
General form oblong oval ; the head rounded in front, and 
the back rather gibbous ; height three and one-eighth in total 
length ; head nearly four times in the same ; eye five times in the 
length of the head ; this without scales, and covered with pores ;, 
operculum only having, towards its posterior part, two rows of 
very large scales ; the first numbering six or seven, and the 
second four or five ; behind these extends a space finely 
striated and naked ; no scales on the cheeks ; operculum 
striated ; body covered with large scales numbering twenty- 
nine or thirty on the longitudinal line, and twelve on the 
transverse one ; those near the end of the tail are very large and 
oval ; lateral line beginning over the operculum, arched down- 
wards and following the centre of the tail ; it is formed of a 
succession of short oblique ridges. Dorsal formed of fifteen 
spines and eleven rays ; the two first spines about equal, 
prolongated in long filaments having the length of the height 
of the body ; the third shorter and the following much shorter 
still, and about equal between themselves. The soft rays are 
much longer than the spines, and, when laying down, extend to 
the base of the caudal. This has ten long rays and three shorter 
ones on each side ; it seems truncated but is not perfect in 
the only specimen I have seen. Anal with two feeble spines 
and twelve rays ; these have the same form as those of the 
dorsal. Pectorals large, round posteriorly, of fourteen rays ; 
ventrals united at the base, smaller than the pectorals, but 
extending further backwards, having one rather long slender 
spine and four rays. 
The colours (after having been in liquor) are of a reddish pink 
becoming of a light brown on the back, with faint traces of three 
or four irregular transverse brown bands, which are interrupted 
a little under the lateral line, and reappear as blotches on the 
sides of the belly. The head is brown on its upper parts and 
pink on the sides and below; a longitudinal narrow well- 
defined blue stripe, bordered with black, extends from the 
posterior edge of the orbit to the end of the scaly part of the 
operculum ; a second runs similarly below the eye, but extends. 
