The Hiftory of ANIMALS. 305 
fomewhat protuberant, and are covered with a Ample and naked Ikin : the pupil and 
iris are not turned upwards, but diredly to one fide, fo that they are formed for look¬ 
ing horizontally : the pupi. is of a greenifli-black, and the iris of a filvery white 5 there 
is, in the upper part of the pupil, a whitifh operculum, and about the edge there is 
an elegant fringe under the cornea ; this, by prefiing of the finger, may be forced up¬ 
ward and downward, till it hide the whole pupil: the cryfialline humour in the eyes 
of this fifhis round, pellucid, and is hard before boiling. Immediately behind each eye 
there is a fingle, oblong foramen ; this runs tranfverfely, and it’s anterior fide is Aria- 
ted, and ferves as a valve to clofe up almofl the whole aperture ; but the hinder part 
of the aperture is fmooth within : thefe foramina have each a double dud ; they 
are opened in the anterior part diredly into the mouth by a large foramen, and in 
the hinder part they have another which runs to the gills: the ule of thefe apertures 
is the fame with that of thofe of the gills, to take in and let out water, and to afliA 
in keeping the gills in motion, and promoting thus the circulation of the blood : the 
noflrils are very confpicuous; they are fituated on the under part of the head, a little 
before the opening of the mouth, and have each only a fingle aperture, but that very 
large j thefe communicate with the mouth, and have their aperture within, covered by 
a fine thin membrane; they are quite open before, except that on the outer fide there 
is a little valve : thefe nofirils have a long and large cavity within, and it’s bottom is 
ftriated or perforated with oblong and narrow holes, through which a mucous matter 
is forced. 
The mouth is fituated on the under fide of the body, and Hands in a tranfverfe di- 
redion : it is very large, and Hands at the fame diHance from the extremitiy of the 
roflrum that the eyes do. It is very well furnifhed, in both jaws, with a kind of granu- 
lous and rhomboidal tubercles by way of teeth : the palate is fmooth, and the tongue 
alfo is fhort, broad, and fmooth. 
The foramina or apertures of the gills are very fmall - there are five of them on 
each fide ; they Hand a great way below the mouth, at the tides of the breafl, in a 
Hraight line, and the lowefl of thefe comes into immediate contad with the tranfverfe 
cartilage of the breafl; thefe apertures are not round but oblong, and they run tranf¬ 
verfely : the back, or upper part of the fifh, is of a duiky brown, with a fmall ad¬ 
mixture of a greyifh tinge, and is elegantly variegated with large, white, roundifh 
fpots, placed in no regular diredion : the belly is white 5 the back is alfo fometimes 
white, and is fpotted with brown or with black, but that is not the ufual Hate of the 
fifli: the back is all over befet with innumerable fmall fpines, the points of which turn 
backwards j the belly is fmooth. 
The fides of the fifh terminate each in a broad fin: thefe are very large, and Hand 
in the place of the pedoral fins in other fifiies ; the extremity of each of thefe lateral 
fins is terminated in an acute angle : the cartilaginous rays of thefe fins are numerous, 
and are eafily difiinguiflied in the entire fifh, but much more beautifully when the ikin 
is peeled off, in which cafe they are found to be elegantly variegated with tranfverfe 
knots: the ventral fins Hand one on each fide near the anus, or at the beginning of the 
tail $ they are placed horizontally, in the manner of the pedoral fins, afid their Hiape 
is very lingular : in the open part, where they come near the lateral fins, each termi¬ 
nates in a large cartilaginous apophyfis, and at the other end, or at the beginning of the 
tail, they have two other apophyfes, but thefe laH have no cartilages: the interior part 
of both thefe fins is joined by a thin membrane to the tail. 
The tail is longer than the whole body ; it is flender, but not rounded in figure, but 
depreffed, and the lower fide of it is plane or flat: there are two little fins on the up¬ 
per fide of the tail, near it’s extremity, between which there are alfo ufually two 
little fpines; at the extremity of the rofirum there are alfo, both on the upper and 
under fides, two fpines, but thefe are not found difiind in the young fifh, nor are 
they very confpicuous at any time in the females. 
There runs one row of large fpines fometimes from the beginning of the back, but 
fometimes only from it’s middle to the extremity of the tail j the fpines on this feries 
are about thirty, and they run in a ffraight line : there are two fpines of this kind alfo 
at the anterior part of each of the eyes, and three behind each of them ; and in the 
anterior part of the back alfo there are frequently four large fpines; when the whole 
four are there, they Hand in a fquare form, but, in the not fully-grown fifh, the two 
hinder ones only are vifible; and, finally, on each fide of the tail alfo there is a fingle 
feries of fmaller fpines, but thefe are often very faintly perceptible in the fmaller fifli: 
4 I the 
