OCR Text |
Show 154 MR. J. D. OGILBY O N FISHES [Mar. 19, slightly beyond the upper, and the cleft of the mouth is very oblique; the maxilla reaches to the posterior fourth of the orbit in one example, while in the other it only extends to beneath the middle of the eye; it is very much dilated posteriorly, its greatest breadth being five sixths of the diameter of the eye, while it is twice as broad as the preorbital. The nostril is provided with two openings placed close together, the posterior of which is very much the larger. The opercle is armed with three spines, of which the middle is much the longest, and the upper so completely hidden as to be difficult to find ; the vertical limb and angle of the preopercle are evenly serrated, the horizontal limb being entire. Teeth-there are two or three small canines in front of each ramus of the lower jaw, and one or two much longer and stronger lateral ones, while between and behind these is a broad band of villiform teeth ; in the upper jaw there are two canines in front of each ramus, one placed behind the other, the inner being much the stronger, and there is a row of stout cardiform teeth outside the villiform band ; the vomer is furnished with a triangular patch, and the palatines with a narrow band of minute teeth, the tongue being smooth. Fins-the dorsal commences above the middle of the opercle ; the spines are rather weak; the first four sevenths of the length of the second, which is about three fifths of that of the elongated third spine; the remaining ones are subequal in length, and not so high as the rays, some of which, near the end of the fin, exceed even the third spine; the base of the spinous is slightly less than that of the soft portion of the fin, and the interspinal membrane is but little notched and possesses a short filiform appendage. The third anal spine is the longest, rather less than one half of the length of the head, while its anterior rays are produced, so as to be three eighths longer than the longest dorsal ray, thus causing its outer edge to be deeply concave. The ventral spine is one fourth longer than the third anal, and the second ray is greatly prolonged, reaching, when entire, to the end of the base of the anal fin, and being one and a half times the length of the head. The pectoral fin is rather pointed, reaches to opposite the vent, and is equal in length to the head. The caudal fin is deeply forked, with the outer rays of each lobe filiform, and its length is three and two fifths in the total. Scales-of moderate size, finelv ctenoid, and firmly adherent; the soft dorsal and anal fins are set in scaly sheaths, and, along with the other fins, are covered with smaller scales upon their basal half, and the entire head is clothed with scales of less size than those of the body. The lateral line has a gradual curve parallel to the line of the back. Colours-reddish brown, the fins with a yellowish tinge, especially on the outer half; a curved silvery (pale blue in life) streak runs from the cheek to the base of the caudal fin, near and parallel to the ventral profile, while a second is present, but not so strongly marked, from behind the base of the pectoral to that of the caudal fin1. 1 Both these lines have entirely disappeared in my specimens, which have been two years in spirit, |