and so closely united to each other as well as to the first soft ray, as to be scarcely obvious
except upon dissection ; all the soft rays, except the first, branched. Space between the anal
and caudal not a tenth part of the whole length. C audal slightly notched, or hollowed out,
witl) rows of scales between the rays. Pectorals pointed, about three-fourths the length of the
head, with the seventh and eighth rays longest ; rows of scales at the base between the rays :
in their axillæ a somewhat projecting vertical scale or lamina, as in the last species. Ventrals
immediately beneath the pectorals, also pointed, but shorter.
C o l o u r .— “ Above, and the fins, obscure greenish; sides obscure coppery, passing on the belly
into salmon-colour. Pectorals edged with dull blue. Iris yellowish brown : pupil black-
blue.”— D .—The skin has dried to a nearly uniform brown.
Habitat, Chatham Island, Galapagos Archipelago.
I feel but little hesitation in referring this species, which is one of the many
new ones obtained by Mr. Darwin in the Galapagos Archipelago, to the genus
Laiihis. The absence of vomerine and palatine teeth requires it to be placed,
according to Cuvier’s views, among the Scioenidoe ; in which family, there is no
other group besides Latilus, to which it makes any approach. It agrees \vith
that genus in its general form, and in many of its particularities; it has the same
form of snout, mouth, maxillary, and dentition; the same scaly lamina in the
axilla of the pectorals; the same long undivided dorsal and anal fins, with only
two very small anal spines, so closely united to the first soft ray as to be easily
overlooked. But it may be at once distinguished from the L . uigentatus and the
L . doliatus, the only two species described by Cuvier and Yalenciennes in the
body of their work, by its much more numerous soft rays in the dorsal and anal
fins. From the L . jugularis last described, which resembles it in this respect, it
difters in its thoracic ventrals, shorter head, naked snout and suborbital, and
notched caudal : the profile also falls less obliquely. There is only one specimen
in the collection, a dried skin and rather injured.
H e l ia .se s C ru sm a . Val.
Ileliases Cnisma, Cuv. et Val. Ilist. des Poiss. tom. ix. p. 377.
F o r m .— Oval, very much compressed. Back considerably elevated, particularly at the nape, whence
tlie profile descends very obliquely, and, with the exception of a slight concavity before the
eyes, in nearly a straight line. G reatest depth at the commencement of the dorsal, equalling
nearly half the entire length, caudal excluded. Head contained four and a half times in the
same. Snout short: mouth small, a little protractile : lower jaw rather the longest. A narrow
band of velutine teeth in each jaw , with the outer row in fine card ; these last longest and
strongest in front. Eyes large; their diameter nearly one-third the length of the head. Suborbitals
forming a narrow curved band beneath the eyes, and covered by a row of scales.
Nostrils with only a single, small, round aperture. Preopercle with tlie ascending margin
vertical, not quite rectilineal, inclining slightly inwards towards the angle, which is rounded.
Opercle, taken together with the subopercle, very regularly curved, the margin describing
nearly a semicircle, with one flat point to terminate the osseous portion ; its height double its
length.
The whole of this fish, including every part of the head, except the lips and maxillary, is
covered with scales, which extend on to the vertical fins as in Glyphisodon : those on the fins
and upper part of the head and snout are very small, but those on the gill-covers and body very
large : about twenty-six or twenty-seven in a longitudinal line from the gill to the base of the
caudal, and fourteen or fifteen in a vertical line : one taken from about the middle o f the side
is oblong, the breadth exceeding the length, with the anterior margin rounded, and the free
portion finely dotted and very minutely ciliated, the concealed portion cut square, with a fan of
eight or ten striæ not meeting at the centre, and terminating at the basal margin in as many
crenations. The lateral line commences at one-fourth of the depth, but, from the fall of the
dorsal line posteriorly, the distance between these two lines diminishes as the former advances :
the lateral line terminates beneath the soft portion of the dorsal fin altogether.
Fins almost exactly similar to those of the Glyphisodon saxatilis and Heliases insolahis, as
described and figured in the “ Histoire des Poissons.” The fourth and fifth spines in the
dorsal longest, equalling one-fourth of the depth ; of the soft rays the third, fourth, and fifth are
longest. First anal spine only one-third the length of the second, which is itself rather shorter
than the soft rays ; and these last appear longer than in the H . insolatus. C audal more forked
than crescent-shaped, the depth of the fork equalling nearly h alf the length of the fin, which is
itself one-fourth the entire length of the fish. Axillary scales of the pectorals and ventrals as
in H . insolatus.
B. 6 ; D. 13,12 ; A. 2/12; C. 15, & 4 short; P. 21 ; V. 1/5.
Length 8 inches.
C o l o u r .— “ Above lead-colour, beneath paler.”— D. In spirits, it appears of a deep brownish olive
on the back and upper p art o f the sides, passing into dull golden yellow on the lower part of
the sides and abdomen, where, however, the scales are still faintly edged with the former
colour. Fins dark.
Habitat, Valparaiso, Chile.
This species, as M. Valenciennes observes, is so extremely similar to the
/ / . insolulus, that at first sight, it would hardly he distinguished from it. The
only difierences appear to consist in the form of the caudal, which is forked, not
crescent-shaped as in the species just mentioned, and in the greater length of