THE PISHES OF MALABAR. 75 



Colours— Ground colour of a dark olivaceous brown, with a light band from orbit to root of 

 caudal, next a dark one from the shoulder to the caudal, below which it becomes lighter towards 

 the abdomen, where it has a slight silvery tint. All the fins are brownish, the pectorals being 

 stained with black, the ventrals with grey, the caudal also with blackish grey, and the external 

 corners of the lobes tipped with white. 



Grows to two feet in length : and is eaten by the Natives. 



Habitat— Seas of India, Malaysia, China, and Japan. The tropical parts of the Atlantic, 

 extending along the shores of the United States. 



Genus ECHENEIS, Artedi. 



Branchiostegals, eight : pseudobranchiae. Body elongate, fusiform. Eyes lateral or directed down- 

 wards and outwards. Cleft of mouth wide. Infraorbital bones do not articulate with the preopercle. Head 

 depressed. The spinous dorsal modified to an adhesive disk on the summit of head and neck. Ventrals 

 thoracic : no finlets, or keel on the tail. Teeth villiform on jaws, vomer, palatine bones, and generally 

 on the tongue. Scales very small. No air bladder. Pyloric appendages in moderate numbers. 



EcHENEIS NAUCEATES. 



Echeneis nauceates, Linn. Syst. i. p. 446 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 199 ; Giiniher, Catal. 



ii. p. 384. 

 Ala mottah, Russell, pi. 49. 



PUTTHOO MUD AY, Mai. 



B. vii. D. 22-25 | 33-41. P. 20. Y.\. A. ^| ^. C. 17. 



Length of head rather more than \, of pectoral \, of base of second dorsal \, of base of anal -L, 

 of caudal \ of total length. Height of head ^, of body \, of second dorsal T Vf, of anal T ^, of 

 ventral ^ of total length. 



Eyes — Oval, looking obliquely outwards and downwards, horizontal diameter \, and vertical 

 diameter \ of length of head, 2J diameters apart superiorly, but inferiorly only 2 : 2 diameters 

 from end of upper jaw. 



Body — Cylindrical, tapering off to the tail. Upper surface of head covered by a flattened 

 oval disk, rather widest posteriorly, one fifth of the total length, and two and a-half times as long as 

 wide, containing usually if not invariably in Malabar specimens twenty-two transverse laminae with 

 dentated or spiny teeth on the posterior margin of each, and also a central wide tooth, or smooth 

 bony elevation between each near their centres, so that a vacuum can be created along the whole 

 extent of the disk, or only in one-half. The most anterior of the laminae are directed slightly 

 forwards, the second quarter are nearly transverse, and the posterior go backwards, the difference 

 between each succeeding one being very gradual. External to this disk is a wide fleshy membrane, 

 which posteriorly extends over the occiput, but anteriorly does not reach to the end of the upper 

 jaw j the whole acting as a sucker. 



Mouth — Oblique, maxilla extending about as far as the anterior margin of orbit. Mandibular 



l 2 



