OCR Text |
Show 34 ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF TilE BEAGLE. anterior margin of the orbit. A band of sharp velutine teeth in each jaw broadest above ; a double semicircular patch of similar teeth on the front of the vomer, and a band all along each palatine as broad as that in the lower jaw. Branchial arches and pbaryngeans rough with similar teeth. Tongue free, thin, flat, truncated at the apex with a double emargination in the middle, of equal breadth throughout, without teeth, the central portion cartilaginous with a broad membranous border all round. Eyes large, their diameter one-sixth the length of the head, approximating, with not half a diameter between, distant two diameters from the extremity of the lower jaw. The spines of the preopercle (which in some species are long and very unequal) very short and inconspicuous, of equal length, the lower one rounded off almost to nothing. Head smooth all over; presenting the usual ridges, which however are not very salient, but with hardly anything deserving the name of spines, excepting only a small flat spine terminating the opercle, and a minute but sharp one on the upper ridge of the scapula : none at the anterior angle of the first suborbital, or on the ridge of the orbit. Gill opening very large; the branchial membrane notched underneath for its whole length. Pectorals broad and oval but short, contained nearly eight times in the entire length ; the first two rays simple, the next ten branched, the last seven, which are rather stout, again simple. Ventrals separate by nearly the whole breadth of the body, attached beneath the middle of the pectorals, longer than these last fins by nearly one-third, and reaching very nearly but not quite to the vent, which is a little posterior to the middle of the entire length: the spine of the ventrals is one-third of the longest of the articulated rays which are the last or innermost. The first dorsal commences above the middle of the pectorals, and occupies between one-sixth and oneseventh of the entire length ; its greatest height is about two-thirds of its own length ; the first spine is very short, and detached, as in the other species ; the second a little shorter than the third which is longest; the rest gradually decrease to the last, which is one-third the length of the second ; this fin therefore is not so triangular as in many of this genus. A small space between the first and second dorsals. This last longer and rather lower than the former, contained four and a halftimes in the entire length; all the rays nearly even, with the exception of the first only, which is a little shorter than the second. Caudal square. The anal answers to the second dorsal, but begins, as well as terminates, a little back warder. :/he lateral line commences at the suprascapular, and gradually bends down till it reaches the middle of the depth which it keeps for the remainder of its course; it is perfectly smooth throughout. The scales cover all the body and a part of the head, but are not present between the eyes, or on the front of the snout, or on the jaws. They a1·e small, oblong-oval, finely striated, with a fan of eleven or twelve deeper strire posteriorly, their free edges cut square, not ciliated. CoLoua.-(In spirits.)-Back and sides nearly uniform deep brown; beneath white; the two colours separated by a well-defined line. First dorsal transparent, with a deep brown stain or blotch on the membrane, of an irregular form, and occupying more than the posterior half of the fin. Second dorsal uniformly, but rather obscurely, spotted throughout. Caudal with tra~sverse rows of similar spots. Anal nearly uniform pale dusky, the spots hardly distingmshable from the ground. Ventrals the same. Pectorals with spots on the rays, but with the intervening membrane nearly transparent. Habitat, King George's Sound, New Holland. |