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Show 1890.] SPECIES OF FISHES FROM MADEIRA. 455 the fin was mutilated, further account of it cannot be given. The rudimentary second dorsal is placed a little in advance of the posterior end of the base of the anal, and about 16 m m . from the base of the caudal. The long narrow pectorals are inserted near the edge of the opercle and extend back much beyond the base of the ventrals, reaching almost as far as their tips, but not quite so far as the vertical from the posterior end of the base of the dorsal. Compared with the length of the fish without the caudal, they are as 1 to 4f. The abdominal ventrals were mutilated in the specimen ; but the more perfect one was 15 m m . in length; they are inserted about 13 m m . behind the root of the pectorals. The anal begins a little behind the posterior end of the base of the first dorsal; its base has a length of 25 m m . What remained of the furcate caudal had a length of 19 m m . There were no spines on any part of the fish. The scales had been nearly all removed; the few remaining were cycloid and thin. The lateral line commences at the upper angle of the opercle and falls rapidly on the side of the body until it reaches SD Scopelus langerhansi. Scales of lateral line, enlarged. the middle of the base of the first dorsal, thence it runs along the middle of the height to the base of the caudal. On one side of the body, in the neighbourhood of the rudimentary dorsal, three scales of the lateral line were left to show that these scales were very large, transversely elliptical and imbricated. They were 6 m m . wide, or about half as wide as the tail at that part. The single specimen of this fish that has occurred was obtained from a fisherman by m y friend the late Prof. Dr. Langerhans, and was sent by him to the Museum of Natural History at Berlin under the name of Alysia loricata, Lowe. But from that fish (which Dr. Giinther believes to be Scopelus coccoi) the fish here described differs in many important respects. On comparing the above description with Mr. Lowe's description oi Alysia, the following differences (along with others) will be found to exist:-1. In this fish the pectoral fins extend much beyond the roots of the ventrals; in Alysia the ventral fins are inserted under the tips of the pectorals. 2. The ventrals have 8 rays ; in Alysia 6. 3. The first dorsal fin begins over the root of the pectorals; in Alysia that fin is placed over the space between the ventrals and the anal. 4. The caudal fin is very small in Alysia, whilst here it is longer than the height of the fish. 5. In Alysia there are spines on the tail both above and below; here there are no spines. 6. In Alysia there is a single 31* |