nfraque per mediam caudam cursum resumens.

Pinnae magnae esquamosae. Pinna dorsi anique radiis tribus, spinosis,
ceteris articulatis. Pinnae ventrales sub pectorales offixae, propter
tenuitatem ventris invicem approximatae.

The strong resemblance which the subject of this article bears to the
Pseudochromis olivaceus of Dr. Ruppell (Neue Worlbethiere, page 8, taf.
2, figure 3) induced me at first sight to refer it to the same genus, but
on examination I found that very material alterations would require to be
made in the generic characters assigned to Pseudochromis,* to enable them
to apply to our fish.

(*Footnote. M. Swainson, considering this name as very objectionable, has
proposed Labristoma instead. Both names are founded on the resemblance
which the fish bears to another genus, in whole or in part, and the
objection which has been made to the one is equally valid against the
other.)

The above character has therefore been drawn up, and ichthyologists may
consider Assiculus, either as a proper generic form, or as merely a
subgenus or subdivision of Pseudochromis, with an extended character,
according to their different views of arrangement. The last named genus,
as described and restricted by Dr. Ruppell, from whom all our knowledge
of it is derived, has the jaw teeth disposed in a single row, and the
minute palatine teeth of a sphaeroidal form. The operculum has its angle
prolonged, and is not toothed, nor is the suboperculum crenated; and a
considerable number of the rays of the dorsal fin, succeeding to the
three spinous ones, are simple but flexible, the posterior ones only
being articulated and divided in the usual manner. Linnaeus has briefly
characterized two fish (Labrus ferrugineus, Bl. Schn. page 251, and
Labrus marginalis, Id. page 263) which most probably belong, either to
Pseudochromis or Assiculus, and which are to be placed, M. Valenciennes
thinks, near Malacanthus, among the Labridae. Now, this family, according
to M. Agassiz, is essentially cycloid in the structure of its scales,
although there is a slight departure from the rigid characters of the
order in the serrated preopercular of Crenilabrus, Ctenolabrus, and some
others, and in the spine bearing operculum of Malacanthus. The latter
genus is, moreover, described by M. Agassiz as possessing scales with
toothed edges, and rough to the touch when the finger is drawn forwards.
It has the simple intestinal canal without caeca, which is proper