22 



A single male 8|- inches long from off the Travancore coast 224-284 

 fathoms. 



Regd. No. y' 



Near the Mediterranean Raja oxyrhynchus L. Named after the celebrated 

 Elizabethan navigator and explorer John Davis, who — though best known for 

 his Arctic voyages — piloted three expeditions to the East Indies and lost his life 

 in Indian seas. 



Besides the Sharks and Rays just described, there is evidence of the 

 existence of other species in the depths of these seas : — 



(1) Off the Travancore coast, in 824 fathoms, an egg, with a very early 

 embryo, of some gigantic species of, probably, Raja was dredged. 



(2) Off the western coast of the Andamans, in 561 fathoms, an empty 

 egg-capsule of, probably, Gallorhynchus was taken. 



(3) Off the Godavari Delta, in 410 fathoms, an empty egg-capsule of, 

 probably, Chimsera was obtained. 



Sub-class TELEOSTOMI. 



Order Teleostei. 

 Sub-order Acanthopterygii. 



Family Serranidce. 



Chelidopeeca, Boulenger. 



Chelidoperca, Boulenger, Catalogue of the Pereiform Fishes in the British Museum, I. p. 304. 



" Body compressed ; scales rather large, rough and ciliated. Lateral line 

 " complete, the tube with ascending tubule. Mouth large, protractile ; maxil- 

 " lary exposed ; jaws with bands of villiform teeth, a few of the inner ones in 

 " the middle of the upper jaw enlarged, depressible, hinged at the base ; teeth 

 " on vomer and palatines ; tongue smooth. Head partly scaled ; pre-opercle 

 " serrated, without antrorse teeth on the lower border ; opercle with two spines. 

 " Gill-membranes separate ; seven branchiostegals ; pseudobranchiae present ; 

 " gill-rakers rather long. Dorsal fins confluent, with X. 10 rays, the spinous 

 " and soft portions subequal in length. Anal short with III. 6 rays. Pectorals 

 " subsymmetrical, obtusely pointed, (with 17 rays).* Ventrals anterior to base 

 " of pectorals, close together, with a strong spine. Posterior process of 

 " premaxillaries not extending to the frontals ; supra-occipital and parietal crests 

 " short, smooth area of cranium extending posteriorly to a line connecting the 

 " preopercular portions" (Boulenger). 



* lu the single Indian species the pectoral flu rays are 1-1 or 15 in number. 



