281 
of Edinburgh, Session 1876 - 77 . 
which run in a direction slightly oblique to its upper border. The 
teeth are rarely seen, being usually covered up by the matrix, whose 
intense hardness defies all attempts at working them out; in some 
specimens, however, a few are exhibited both on the mandible and 
maxilla. They are conical, sharp, and incurved, and of different 
sizes, the largest measuring about inch in length, though in one 
specimen a broken tooth is perceptible which must have been 
larger, probably attaining about — inch in length. The bones of 
the shoulder girdle, usually well seen, present nothing remarkable 
in their configuration ; they are ornamented externally with closely 
set, wavy, branching, and anastomosing ridges. 
The scales of the body are of medium size ; as usual they 
diminish from before backwards, but not in so very marked a 
manner as in Gonatodus punctatus. Externally they are marked 
with oblique furrows passing into isolated coarse punctures in the 
posterior part of the scale. In the anterior part of the fish, and 
along the line of the back in front of the dorsal fin, these furrows 
are closer, producing sometimes a ridged appearance between them, 
and extend more over the surface than is the case further back, 
where they are shorter, and more limited to the anterior margin, so 
that the greater part of the exposed area of the scale is simply 
punctured; the furrows become, indeed, almost entirely lost on the 
scales of the tail pedicle. The posterior margins of the scales are 
finely denticulated. 
The length of the pectoral fin is equal to about § that of the 
head; it is sharply acuminated, and contains about 30 rays-, which 
at the medial edge of the fin become very short and delicate. The 
first three rays on the lateral edge, which are short and do not 
reach the apex, seem entirely unarticulated; the articulations of 
the others are distant proximally, but becoming rapidly closer dis- 
tally, so that over the greater part of the expanse of the fin the joints 
are square-shaped, becoming at length even shorter than broad. 
The ventrals are situated midway between the pectorals and the 
anal; they are also acuminate in form, each containing about 15 
rays, articulated from their origins, their joints also diminishing in 
length from their proximal towards their distal extremities. The 
dorsal is situated nearly opposite the interval between it and the 
anal; both of these fins are very similar in shape, being triangular, 
