OTOLITHUS jEQUIDENS.— Cuv. & Val. 
Pisces. — Plate XIII. 
O. supra obscur& coeruleo-purpureus, nebulis viridibus aurantiisque varicgatus ; corporis lateribus infra 
lineam latcralem, partibusque inferioribus argenteo-albis, fiavo-tinctis et griseo-purpureo-umbratis ; oris 
partibus intemis flavis ; linea laterali subdeflexS, continua ; corpore elongate subovale ; capite anticii 
acuniinato ; maxilla inferiore ultra superiore porrecta : squamis parvis, postice semicircularibus. 
Longitudo ab apice nasi ad pinna; caudalis extremitatem in adulto, 3 ped. ad 4 ped. 6 unc. 
Otolithus iEQUiDEXs, Cue. Val. — Hist. Nat. des Poissons, tom. 5, folio 66. 
Geel Bek of tlie Cape Colonists. 
Colour. — The ground colour of the back, and the upper part of the sides 
above the lateral line, dull bluish purple, irregularly clouded with oil-green 
and light orange-red, — the upper surface of the head and the centre of the 
back in front of the dorsal fin, flashed with resplendent aurora-red ; the 
scapular plate imperial purple, obscured with blackish purple. The sides 
below the lateral line and the under parts pale silvery-white, tinted with 
yellow, and shaded, especially the former, with light lavender-purple, the 
shades strongest towards the lateral line. The sides of the head, including 
the gill-covers, are oil-green, clouded with imperial purple, resplendent 
aurora-red and king’s-yellow. The intermaxillary bones at the angles of the 
mouth are ultra-marine blue, and the groove between each and the maxillaiy 
bone gamboge-yellow. The dorsal, caudal, and anal fins, are light cochineal- 
red, shaded with pale brownish red ; the pectoral fins dull ash-grey, fading 
posteriorly into yellowish white, and each fin towards the base is tinted with 
oil-green. Ventral fins yellowish-white, shaded with dull flesh-red. The 
edges of the lower jaw towards the angles of the mouth, and the inside of the 
mouth, are bright gamboge-yellow. The eyes are saffron -yellow, shaded with 
hyacinth-red. 
Form, &c.— Body rather compressed and oblong-ovate, greatest depth 
nearly one-fifth of its length, the part between dorsal and caudal fins very 
slender. The dorsal outline rather more curved than the ventral. Head 
conical, the apex formed by the pointed lower jaw which projects beyond the 
upper ; the length of the head measured to hinder edge of operculum not 
quite one-fourth of the whole length of the fish. Eyes moderately large, 
situated directly over the hinder extremities of the maxillary bones ; nostrils 
