ELOPS CAPENSIS. 
jaw. Body covered with moderately large scales, anteriorly and posteriorly 
slightly rounded, the sides truncate ; the basal half of each scale distinctly 
marked with a series of delicate and raised radii, which diverge from its cen- 
tre ( vide plate ) ; immediately before the dorsal fin the rows of scales are 
twenty-seven. The humeral plates three in number, very conspicuous, the 
upper one long, narrow, and reaching from the centre of the back to a little 
below the division between the operculum and suboperculum, the other two be- 
tween that and the pectoral fins both on the same level, and the one overlapped 
by the other, as is distinctly represented in the figure. The lateral line com- 
mences behind the upper extremity of the operculum, slopes slightly down- 
wards till it arrives nearly opposite the middle of the dorsal fin, from thence it 
proceeds in a straight line till its termination, which is a little behind the centre 
of the caudal fin ; the line, though interrupted, is very distinct, and consists of 
a series of short grooves, one near the hinder extremity of each of the scales of 
the row along which it extends, which row is generally the fourteenth or fif- 
teenth reckoning, the centre row of the back as the first. Fins moderately 
large, the dorsal and anal ones emarginate posteriorly, and each surrounded 
at its base with a low membranous sheath, coated with large scales ; the base 
of the pectoral fins superiorly guarded by a long tapering membranous plate, 
and inferiorly by a series of broad but comparatively short ones ; the base of 
the ventral fins inferiorly and superiorly furnished with plates like the pec- 
toral fins, the last plate of the series on the dorsal aspect of the fin narrow 
and considerably elongated. Caudal fin deeply forked, with distinct, spinous, 
rudimentary rays superiorly and inferiorly towards its base, which are flat- 
tened and closely applied to each other ; the large bony scale at the base of 
the tail, superiorly and inferiorly, oval and slightly convex. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches, Lines. 
Distance from the tip of the lower jaw 
to the eye ... 1 3 
to the angle of the mouth 2 6 
to the hinder edge of the oper- 
culum 5 0 
to the base of the first ray of 
the pectoral fin 5 2 
to the dorsal fin 11 2 
to the ventral fins 11 1 
Inches. Lines. 
Distance from the hinder edge of the 
dorsal fin to the base of the 
tail 6 9 
from the ventral fins to the 
anal fin 6 1 
Distance between the anal fin and the 
base of the caudal 2 6" 
Length of the caudal fin 4 5 
Total length of the fish 26 0 
Vertical diameter immediately before 
the dorsal fin 3 7 
In young specimens the green colour above the lateral line is scarcely 
broken. 
In considering this a new species, I have only admitted two species of the genus to have 
been described, viz. Elops saurus, Bloch, Plate 393 ; and Jinagow, Russell, Plate 179. 
