209 



Colour in spirit : in the young blue-black, the papillae white : in large speci- 

 mens mottled black and white. 



Largest specimen rather over 3- inches long. 



Bay of Bengal, off Madras coast, 145 to 250 fathoms ; Andaman Sea, 185 

 fathoms. 



Regd. Nos. 13709, 3 ™, 2Z2. 



The peculiar delicacy of the tissues and the large goggle eyes proclaim this 

 fish to be an inhabitant of the depths. 



Halimochirurgus nov. gen. 



Body low and moderately compressed but not elongate, except the snout, 

 which is produced to form a long curved perfectly tubular organ, with the mouth 

 near the end, remarkably like the surgical instrument known as a catheter. 

 Tail short. Skin everywhere covered with small villiform and capillary spinelets. 

 No lateral line. 



Mouth small, placed superiorly and transversely, near the end of the tubular 

 snout. A row of minute conical teeth in each jaw. 



Gills pectinate. Gill-opening a narrow slit in front of the pectorals. 



The spinous dorsal consists of two large spines. The soft dorsal is short 

 and almost opposite the anal. 



Bach ventral consists of a huge spine articulating with the pelvic bone. 



The mandibular symphysis is sharp and very prominent beyond the mouth, 

 but there is no barbel. 



This curious fish is undoubtedly a very close relative of Triacanthus, but 

 has, at the same time, well-marked affinities with Monaeanthus and Anacanthus. 



169. Halimochirurgus centriscoides, Alcock. 



Halimochirurgus centriscoides, Alcock, Proc. Asiatic Soc, Bengal, Jnly, 1899, p. 78. 

 Illustrations of the Zoology of the Investigator, Fishes, pl. XXXI. fig. 3. 



D. II. 13. A. 12. P. 11-12. V. I. C. 12. 



Greatest body-height not quite half the length of the tubular snout, and 

 a fifth the total length without the caudal. 



Snout tubular with an upward curve, ending in a point formed by the 

 mandibular symphysis. On its upper surface, a short distance from its end, is 

 the transverse mouth, well inside of which are two broad curtains of mucous 

 membrane — one connected with each jaw — forming an inner valvular orifice. 

 A row of minute distant conical teeth in each jaw. 



Eye large. Nostrils small, in a hollow immediately in front of the eye. 



27 



