208 



anal fins; these latter are well developed, the dorsal beginning immediately 

 behind the gill-opening. No pectorals. 



The stomach forms a cul de sac of great length ; the air-bladder extends a 

 long way behind the vent. 



Colours : dark lavender-grey ; dorsal and anal fins with basal half whitish 

 and free half blackish. 



A ripe female, 22 inches long, from off the Travancore coast, 430 fathoms. 

 Regd. No. ~. 



Named after Commander A. Dundas Taylor, formerly of the Indian Navy, 

 the founder and first chief of the present Marine Survey of India. 



Sub-order Plectognathi. 

 Family Sclerodermi. 



Teiacanthodes, Bleeker. 



Triacanthodes, Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Neerl. iii. Japan, iv. p. 37: Giinther, Cat. Fishes, VIII. p. 208. 



Body elevated and compressed, with a short tail ; covered with small spiny 

 scales. No lateral line. Teeth very small, conical, close-set, from 14 to 20 in 

 the upper, and about twenty-two in the lower jaw, in a single series, often with 

 two or three in a second series. Anterior dorsal fin formed by from 4 to 6 

 strong spines. Ventrals formed by a pair of strong spines joined to the pelvic 

 bone, with one or two rudimentary rays. 



Distribution : Japan ; Indian Seas. 



168. Triacanthodes ethiops, Alcock. 



Triacanthodes ethiops, Alcock, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. LXIII. pt. 2, 1894, p. 137, pi. vii., fig. 6: Illustki- 



TIONS OF THE ZOOLOGY OF THE INVESTIGATOR, FlSHES, PL. XV. FIG 9. 



D. VI. 14-16. A. 14. P. 12-13. V. I. 1. C. 12. 



Height of the body a little more than half the total without the caudal. 

 Head and body covered with small spiny scales, which are continued — much 

 reduced in size — on to the basal half of the fin-rays. In the young the spinelets 

 of the scales are embedded each in a fleshy papilla. 



Eye very large. 



Spinous dorsal well developed ; the first spine, which is the longest, is 

 rather shorter than the spine of the ventral fin, which is a third the length of the 

 body without the caudal. All the spines are rough with small barbs. 



In the axil of eacli ventral spine is a small filamentous soft ray. 



