24 
PIPER. 
twenty inches in length, measured thirteen inches in girth 
wheie thickest. Head flat on the top, slanting suddenly from 
before the eyes, and advancing again to form a double pro- 
jection, flat and toothed, of considerable length; eyes large, 
high on the side of the head, a wide space between them, 
distinct spines immediately encircling them above; under jaw 
shortest; teeth numerous, small, a few in the palate. The 
cheeks covered with rough stellated lines; head well armed; 
the gill-covers with a strong spine; another, somewhat smaller, 
behind the head, and a very long triangular spine, the longest 
on the body, above the pectoral fin; the dorsal ridge, bordering 
the dorsal fins on each side, formed of elevated flattened spines, 
their points directed backward. Pectoral fin wide, reaching 
to the vent; tail very slightly lunated; ventral fins long and 
wide. Slight scales over the body. Colour of the head, back, 
and sides brilliant pink or scarlet, faint and nearly white on 
the belly. Pectoral fins, the dorsals, and tail more or less 
red; ventrals and anal tinged with red. 
Fin rays — pectoral eleven, first dorsal eight, second dorsal 
thirteen, anal seventeen, ventral six. The two last rays of 
the anal fin are joined to one root; but examples vary in this 
respect, as well in this species as in the others of this o-enus. 
