ELOPS CAPENSIS. — Smith. 
Pisces — Plate VII. 
E. capite superne dorsoque subolivaceis ; corporis lateribus superne viridibus pnrpureo-tinctis ; lateribus 
subtus partibusquc infcrioribus argenteo-albis ; dorsali analique pinnis ad basin vaginatis; pinnis pecto- 
ralibus ventralibusque ad basin squamis membraneis marginatis, earumque posterioribus elongatis, 
et acuminatis. 
Loxgitudo exempli descripti 26 unc. 
Colour. — The centre of the back, and the upper surface of the head oil- 
green, with a brown tint; the remainder of the back and the sides superiorly 
verdigris-green, tinted with lilac-purple; the sides below the lateral line 
silvery-white, faintly clouded with pink, blue, and yellow variegations. The 
gill covers and sides of head a pale rose colour, variegated with pale purple, 
and light saffron-yellow tints. Fins light greenish white, with yellow and 
pink tints, the rays of the caudal and dorsal fins darkest. Eyes pale silvery 
white, clouded with greenish and yellowish variegations. The whole of the 
fish, with the exception of the fins, displays a strong mother-of-pearl lustre. 
Form, &c.—Figure rather slender, and somewhat fusiform ; sides slightly- 
compressed ; girth between hinder edge of gill covers and dorsal fin nearly 
the same; beyond these it gradually diminishes as the distance increases; the 
transverse diameter of the body, immediately before the dorsal fin, about two- 
thirds of the vertical diameter. Head without scales, and measuring from 
the tip of the lower jaw to the hinder edge of the gill covers, not quite one- 
fifth of the total length of the fish ;* its profile cuneiform, the upper surface 
slightly declivous, and marked between the crown and nostrils, with a bioad 
nearly lineal depression, the under surface strongly sloped upwards. Nostrils 
double, and situated nearly half way between the eyes and apex of uppei 
jaw, both oval, the hinder one the largest. Eyes large and rounded. Max- 
illary bones subovate, and each forming nearly two-thirds of the length of 
the jaw ; rami of under jaw strong, and received within the upper, excepting 
at the nose, where the lower jaw is rather the more advanced of the two. 
Teeth extremely delicate, short, and closely set ; a narrow band (figs. A & B 
a a) on the margin of the jaws, two clusters (fig. A b & c) on each side of the 
palate, and one (fig. B C) which forms almost the entire of the upper surface 
of the tongue; the apex of the tongue in front of teeth thin and membranous. 
Gilt covers large, and branchial openings capacious ; operculum moie than 
twice the size of suboperculum ; preoperculum somewhat triangular ; branchial 
membrane with thirty rays, more than half of them within the rami of the lower 
* In a smaller specimen which I possess, the length of the head is considerably more than one-fifth of 
the whole length ; in neither, however, are the measurements to be depended upon, as both specimens 
have been skinned and stuffed. 
