OCR Text |
Show 674 ON NEW FISHES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. [Nov. 21, with large round brown spots; trunk with five, tail with six brown cross bands, broader than the interspaces, and the middle ones the broadest; they extend on the dorsal fin. Dorsal fin with longitudinal lines, anal with a darker margin. One specimen was sent from Manado by Dr. A. B. Meyer; it is nearly 12 inches long, viz. head 1 inch 11 lines, trunk 3 inches 3 lines, and tail 6 inches 9 lines. MuRiENA CHILENSIS. Teeth of moderate size, acute; those of the maxillary and the anterior of the mandible biserial, the others uniserial. The jaws can be shut completely. Snout of moderate length, subconical. Eye small, somewhat nearer to the end of the snout than to the corner of the mouth. Nasal tubes short; cleft of the mouth of moderate width, its length being less than two fifths of that of the head. Gill-opening narrow. Dorsal fin low. Tail considerably shorter than the body; the length of the head is nearly one third of that of the trunk. Coffee-brown, irregularly marbled with darker. One specimen, 34 inches long (no. 144), from the Godeffroy collection. Chile. MUR.ENA T_ENIOIDES. Dorsal fin elevated, the posterior rays being as high as, or higher than, the body underneath, commencing considerably in advance of the gill-opening. Teeth conical, acute, those of the maxillary in a double series; the mouth can be shut completely. The length of the anterior nasal tubes less than the vertical diameter of the eye. Snout obtusely conical, twice as long as the diameter of the eye, which is of moderate size and above the middle of the cleft of the mouth. Gill-opening not much wider than the eye. Tail rather longer than the body; the length of the head is one fifth of that of the trunk. Body and tail uniform light brownish; dorsal and anal with a white margin. Head with small black dots, more numerous towards the end of the snout. One specimen, 15| inches long (no. 53), from the Godeffroy Museum. From Savay. TETRODON PLEUROSTICTUS. (Plate LXIX. fig. A.) The lower side of the tail with a distinct ridge-like fold. The two nasal openings of each side are in a single papilla. The anterior part of the abdomen and sometimes the middle of the back of the trunk with minute spines, the remainder of the fish being entirely smooth. Snout short, its length being less than the width of the interorbital space. The length of the head equals its distance from the dorsal fin. Caudal fin truncate. Upper parts brown; sides greyish, gradually passing into the white of the lower parts. A series of three black round spots on each side of the body-the first corresponding to the upper posterior comer of the pectoral, the second below the end of the dorsal, and the third on the upper half of the tail, near the base of the caudal. |