SUPPLEMENT, 1888. 787 



Genus 1. Malacanthus, Cuv. 



Cleft of mouth horizontal, with the jaws equal anteriorly. Opercle with a spine : pre- 

 opercle entire. Eyes lateral. Villiform teeth in the jaivs, having an outer band of stronger 

 ones: palate toothless. A long continuous dorsal Jin with the first four to six rays iiot 

 articulated. 



Habitat. — Tropical seas. 



1. ItlALACANTHnS LATOVITTATUS. 



Lahrus latovitfatus, Lacep. iii, p. 52G, pi. xxviii, f. 2. 



Toenianotus latovittatus, Lacep. iv, p. 304. 



Malacanthus latovittatus, Qtioy and Gaim. Voy. Astrol. iii, p. 701, pi. xx, f. 3 ; Gunther, 



Catal. iii, p. 3G1. 

 Malacanthus tcBtiiatus, Cuv. and Val. xiii, p. 327, pi. 381 ; Bleeker, Nat. Tyda. Ned. Ind. ii, 



p. 218. 



B. iv-y, D. ^t^, P. 17, V. 1/5, A. ^1^, C. 17, L. 1. 125. 



Length of head 4, of caudal fin 9, height of body to 7 in tho total length. Eyes — 

 high up, and situated nearly midway between the end of the snout and the posterior 

 extremity of the opercle, diameter 7 in the length of the head : cleft of mouth docs not 

 reach to below the front edge of the orbit. Fins — the dorsal commences above tho axil of 

 the pectoral but does not extend on to the caudal. Colours — brownish with a broad black 

 band along the side from the pectoral to the caudal fin. 



Habitat. — New Guinea, Mauritius. Ceylon (Haly). 



Page 134. For LETHRi>fns eostratds read L. miniatus. Add synonyms. 

 Sparus miniatus (Forster) Bloch, Schn. p. 281. 

 Lethrinus miniatus, Cuv. and Val. vi, p. 316 ; Bleeker, Atl. Ich. viii, p. 121, Perc. t. 



xxxi, f. 3. 

 Lethrinus olivaceus et waigiensis, Cuv. and Val. vi, pp. 295, 297. 

 „ acutus, Klunz. Fis. R. Meeres, p. 38, t. vii, f. 1. 



Page 138. For Sph.s;rodon heteeodon read S. grandoculis. Add synonyms. 

 Scicena grandoculis, Forsk. p. 53. 

 Chrysophrys grandoculis, Cuv. and Val. vi, p. 134. 

 Lethriims latidens, Cuv. and Val. vi, p. 316. 

 Sphmrodon grandoculis, Riippell, N. W. Fische, p. 113, t. xxviii, f. 2. 



„ latidens, Kner, Novara Fische, p. 83, t. iv, f. 1. 



Monotaxis grandoculis, Bleeker, Atl. Ich. viii, p. 105, Perc. t. xxi, f. 1. 



Page 138. Pagrus spinifer. Add synonym. 



Fagrus rtiber, Boulenger, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, page 658. 



Mr. Boulenger has instituted a new species from tho Persian Gulf having "a 

 protuberance between and in front of the eyes ;" of tho dorsal spines the " third longest, 

 compressed and curved, its length one-third to one-fourth the depth of the body," being 

 apparently considered suflicient to characterize it. In Cuv. and Val. we are told that in 

 Paijrus spinifer the third dorsal spine is 2/3 the height of tho body, and the fourth about 

 the same length. If, liowever, a large number of specimens are brought together it becomes 

 at once apparent that this diilerence in the length of the dorsal spines is almost entirely 

 owing to the age and size of the e.xample. In two young specimens from Sind, each 3 inches 

 long, the filamentosus prolongation reached the caudal fin, but as age increases the 

 comparative length of these filaments diminishes. The largest of Mr. Boulecger's two 

 specimens is 19 inches long, its third dorsal spine ic 1-8 inches or 10| in the total length ; 

 while the smaller example is 13 inches long, and its third dorsal spine I'T inches long or 

 7-H" in *''"^ total. In two small specimens, 7 and 7'4 inches respectively in length sent to 

 the British Museum by Colonel Playfair, the length of the prolonged rays is absolutely 

 greater than in the larger examples. In a Madras specimen 4'8 inches long tho third 

 dorsal spine is 2 inches long, or 2-^ in the total length ; and in a larger example 9 inches 

 long the third dorsal spine is 1-8 inches long, or 1/5 of the total length, while the frontal 

 protuberance is well developed. I figured an intermediate sized one in which this spine 

 was about 3i in the total length or 2/3 of the height of tho body. It is no doubt true 

 that in the young considerable variations are seen in tho length of these rays, which 

 prolongations become absorbed with age. The two types of P. nihcr are somewhat large 

 specimens, but if we examine the foregoing figures we see as follows respecting the third 

 dorsal spine, at 19 inches it equals lOf , at 13 inches 7{}, at 9 inches 5, at 7 inches 3^, at 

 4-8 inches 2J- in the total length. 



