129 



Opercles thin ; the branchiostegal rays prolonged. 



Scales minute, thin, smooth, deciduous. Lateral line salient, curved above 

 the pectoral, continued right along the caudal fin. 



The longest dorsal rays are about half the length of the head and are 

 slightly shorter than the corresponding anal rays. 



The coloured (left) pectoral, which is more developed than its fellow, is 

 nearly two-thirds the length of the head. 



The coloured ventral is in the same line as the anal ; its longest rays are 

 equal to the major diameter of the eye. 



Colours : left side dark sepia ; vertical fins and left ventral black ; left 

 pectoral grey and black ; edge of branchiostegal membrane, on left side, black. 



The largest specimen is nearly 5 inches long. 



Bay of Bengal, 100, 98 to 102, and 107 fathoms : Arabian Sea, off Malabar 

 coast, 100 fathoms. 



Regd. Nos. 11721, 12805-12809, 13632, 13633, ^—. 



After renewed examination I am convinced that the vomerine teeth, the 

 supposed presence of which led me to keep this species distinct from Lasops, are 

 not true teeth, but are only irregularities of the surface of the bone. 



Solea, Cuv., Gthr. 



105. Solea umbratilis, Alcock. 



Solea (Achirus) umbratilis, Alcock, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. LXIII. pt. 2, 1894, p. 131, pi. vii. fig. 3 : 

 Illustrations of the Zoology of the Investigator, Fishes, pl. XV. fig. 4. 



D. 70. A. 50. C. 18. P. 0. V. 5. L. lat. circ. 80.* 



The height of the body is 2g in the total without the caudal. The length of 



the head is sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less than a third of the 

 total without the caudal (in adults). The snout is but slightly hooked : its length 

 is twice that of the eye and from two-sevenths to a quarter that of the head. 

 The eyes are nearly or quite a diameter apart. The nostril of both sides is a 

 slender tube. The mouth-cleft reaches to the posterior limit of the lower eye. 



No pectoral fins whatever. 



Ventral fins symmetrical, separated from the anal by more than an eye-length. 



Colours in spirit : warm olive brown, with numerous large black blotches 

 which form four or five irregular transverse series and three irregular longitu- 

 dinal series : dorsal and anal fins bluish-black or black : underside smoky in 

 rather more than the posterior half. The black blotches are sometimes circum- 

 scribed by a light areola. 



* From its commencement behind tbe npper eye. 



17 



