THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 



177 



Genus ARIUS, Cuv. and Val. 



Branchiostegals, from five to six. Opercular bones with moveable articulations. No lateral groovi 

 mi head: bones on summit of head rugose, with very thin skin. Mouth anterior, the upper jaw generally 

 the longest. Eyes with a free orbital margin. Cirri six, one maxillary pair and two mandibular pairs. 

 Nostrils approximating, the posterior provided with a valve. Teeth in jaws villiform, and in two distant 

 patches on the palatines. Two dorsals, the first inserted above or before the ventrals, and with one Btrong 

 serrated or roughened spine and six or seven rays: second dorsal adipose, well developed or moderate. 

 Anal of moderate length. Pectoral spine strong and serrated. Caudal forked or emarginate. An air 

 Madder. 



Arius subrostratus. 

 Arius subrostratus, Cuv. & Val. xv. p. 02 ; Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p. 293. 



B. vi. D. J | 0. P. JL v. 6. A. 20. C. 17. 



Length of head t 3 q, of pectoral \, of base of first dorsal T V, of base of second dorsal 2 V> of base 

 of anal j\, of caudal A of total length. Height of head £, of body \, of dorsal \, of anal ^ of 

 total length. 



Eyes— Diameter \ of length of head, f of a diameter apart, and nearly 2 diameters from end 



of snout. 



Mouth spatuliforni, extending across the anterior surface of head, its depth nearly equals a 

 third of its width. Maxillary cirri rather fleshy at their origin, and do not extend so far as the 

 orbit, whilst the external mandibular ones are not quite so loug as, and 

 the internal half the length of the external ones. Upper profile of head 

 granulated, occipital process rather longer than broad, moderately keeled along 

 its centre, and with a rounded extremity, where it articulates with a narrow 

 nasal bone, which is convex anteriorly, and very rough. Central groove of 

 head long and narrow, widest opposite the orbits, becoming quite sharp 

 at both extremities ; anteriorly it extends as far as the snout, and posteriorly 

 to opposite the end of the opercles. The skidl is roughened by raised 

 nodules, in some places passing in lines as far forwards as the orbits, and 

 laterally over summit of opercles. The shoulder bones are rough with small 

 depressions. Opercle terminates posteriorly in a sub-acute angle, roughened 

 by raised lines and depressions. Nostrils large, circular, and approximating, 

 both situated in the anterior third of the snout, and at equal distances from the central line of 

 the head and the margin of the snout. 



Teeth— Villiform in both jaws. On intermaxillaries the band is more than a fourth 

 ^ as wide as long. No teeth on vomer. In palate they are in two oval patches, placed 



wide apart, and diverging posteriorly. 

 Fins— First dorsal commences opposite the posterior fourth of the pectoral: ventral midwaj 

 between the base of the pectoral and the posterior extremity of the anal : anal between the posterior 

 extremity of the pectoral and the centre of the base of the dorsal : adipose dorsal situated over 

 the posterior half of anal. Dorsal fin pointed, its spine long, equal to the distance from the centre 

 of the orbit to the end of the snout: it is flattened laterally and lineated, nodulated anteriorly, becoming 

 almost serrated in its upper three fourths, the serratures below being much less developed than those 

 above : it terminates in a soft point; the first ray does not extend so far as the end of the soft 



2 A 



ll If 



