108 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OF 



CIRRHITIOHTHYS Bleeker. 



Synonymy. 



Cirrhitichthys Bleeker, Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie, vol. 



x., (Index,) p. 474, 1856. 

 Cirrhites sp. Temminck et Schlegel, Bleeker. 



Rostrum acutum. Dentes canini in maxilla superiori nulli ; denies palatini. 



Body oblong-ovate, highest above the ventral fins, and covered with rather 

 large scales. Head moderate, and nearly equally long and high. Nape and 

 crown convex. Occipito-nasal outline obliquely concave and incurved towards 

 the pointed snout; pectori-nasal outline curved upwards. Crown and forehead 

 scaly; suborbital bones naked. Preoperculum finely serrated behind. Sub- 

 orbital bone entire, or dentated posteriorly. Operculum armed with two minute 

 spines. Nasal cirrhi fringed. Mouth oblique and rather small ; supramaxillary 

 bones ending under or nearly under the anterior borders of the orbits. Teeth 

 pluriserial, larger in the external row ; in the lower jaw on each side are larger 

 canine teeth. Front of vomer and palatine bones armed with a band of villi- 

 form teeth. Branchiostegal rays 6 6. Dorsal fin with its spinous part convex, 

 and the last ray generally longer than the penultimate. The interspinal mem- 

 brane is simply notched, or produced in penicilligerous lobes behind each spine. 

 The first articulated ray is more or less elongated. Anal fin with three spines, 

 the second of which is very stout, and six or seven branched rays. Caudal fin 

 subtruncated. 



Type. Cirrhitichthys graphidopterus Bleeker. 



Under the name of Cirrhitichthys, Dr. Bleeker has collected together several 

 fishes which appear to have a considerable mutual resemblance, and to deci- 

 dedly differ from Cirrhitus, to which genus most of them had been previously 

 referred. Four species have been placed in the genus which appear to concur 

 in having the same physiognomy, but are distinguished from each other by 

 some very decided characteristics. Three have a nearly similar size and posi- 

 tion of the eye, which is separated about a diameter, or even less, from the end 

 of the snout. A fourth has smaller eyes, much more distant from the snout. 

 Of the first three, one has a distinctly serrated preorbital, while in the other 

 two it is entire ; the latter again are distinguished by the condition of the inter- 

 spinal portion of the dorsal fin. 



The following analytical synopsis will more readily show the relative dif- 

 ferences : 



Snout shorter than the eye ; suborbital bone scalele3s. 



Preorbital serrated behind C. graphidopterus. 



Preorbital entire behind. 



Interspinal membrane penicilligerous C. oxyrhynchus. 



Interspinal membrane not penicilligerous C. oxycephalus. 



Snout longer than the eye ; suborbital bone scaly C. aureus. j 



In the preceding table the categories have been arranged in the order which 

 appears to best express their value. The most distinct groups or natural sec- 

 tions seem to be those characterized by the size of the eyes and their position. 

 Many naturalists, confiding in characters which may be of very little real value, 

 although at the same time trenchant and well defined, would regard the den- 

 tated or entire posterior margin of the preorbital bones as a character of 

 greater value ; and some would doubtless even consider it as entitled to generic 

 rank. But, after a careful comparison of the descriptions of the various spe- 

 cies that have hitherto been made known, we cannot discover that there is any 

 other essential character by which Cirrhitichthys graphidopterus is distinguished 

 from C. oxyrhynchus and C. oxycephalus. There appearing, then, to be no differ- 

 ences coincident with the condition of the preorbital margin, and the physi- 



[March, 



