THE PISHES OF MALABAR 135 



In one specimen of an inch in length and having one spine in the dorsal and one ray in the 

 anal less than in any of the others, the colours differ, being of a beautiful rose colour, and rather 

 dark brown along the back and base of the anal fin. Two deep black horizontal lines pass one 

 from above the orbit direct to the caudal, and a second from the angle of the mouth, through 

 the eye to the caudal. Head and cheeks spotted. 



Grows to about three inches in length, and is eaten by the Natives. Is found in ditches and 

 frequently remains under stones in the water, in which situation it is readily captured by the 

 hand. 



Habitat — Fresh waters of Malabar, and Coromandel. 



Fam. ATHERINHLE. 

 Genus ATHEEINA, Artedi. 



Branchiostegals, five or six : pseudobranchiae. Body subcylindrical and elongated. Eyes large, lateral. 

 Cleft of mouth rather deep. Upper jaw protractile. Snout obtuse. Two dorsals widely separated, the 

 spines of the first feeble : anal resembling the soft dorsal or slightly larger. Ventrals abdominal with one 

 spine and five rays. Teeth minute, those on palate sometimes indistinct. Scales cycloid, of moderate 

 size. Air bladder present. Pyloric appendages none. 



Atheeina Foeskalii. 

 ? Atheeina hepsetus, Forsh p. 69. 



Atheeina Foeskalii, Blip. N. W. F., p. 139, t. 33, f. 1 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 103 ; 

 Giinther, Catal. iii. p. 397. 



B. vi. D. 5 | ^. P. 17. V. l A. T gL ¥ . C. 15. L. 1. 40. L. tr. 6-7. 



Length of head ±, of pectoral 1 of caudal J, of base of first dorsal T L of second dorsal jL, of 

 base of anal T \ of total length. Height of head |, of body ^, of first dorsal T \j, of second dorsal jL, 

 of ventral ^, of anal -^ of total length. 



Eyes— Very large, nearly circular, the upper margin of the orbit forming part of the profile. 

 Diameter from J length of head to § , 1 of a diameter from end of snout, and 1 diameter apart. 



Body elongated and compressed, tapering towards the caudal extremity : upper profile nearly 

 straight— excepting where the upper margin of the orbit causes a slight bulging— and beyond the 

 second dorsal, where it slightly sinks : the lower profile is more convex than the upper. 



Snout short, mouth oblique, upper jaw slightly protractile. Maxilla extends to beneath the 

 anterior third of the orbit, Lower jaw very slightly the longest : along its lower margin there are the 

 openings of five or six pores, and two or three more on the preorbitals. Preopercle narrow and 

 rectangular, with the angle rounded, and horizontal limb nearly as long as the vertical. Opercle 

 ending in a soft point. Summit of head almost flat, on the vertex there is a raised triangular 

 space, which is continued in the form of a narrow elevation as far as the anterior third of the 

 interorbital space. Passing backwards from the posterior superior margin of the orbit, is a rather 

 deep longitudinal groove, which extends above the upper margin of the opercle and contains the 

 openings of two or three pores. 



Teeth— Bands of finevilliform ones in both jaw i, on the vomer, palatine, and pterygoid bones. 



