THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 267 



Sub-Class.— SELACHII. 

 Order.— P LAGIOSTOMI. 



Sub-Order.— SQUALL 

 Pam. SCYLLLE. 

 Genus CHILOSCYLLIUM, Mull. & Henle. 



Snout blunt : nostrils cleft up to the mouth : nasal valves separated, each with a filament : a hem-like 

 valve on the outer side of each nostril which is continued to the upper corner of the mouth : under lip 

 broad, skinny, and separated from the throat by a transverse furrow. Mouth slightly arched. Spiracles 

 behind and beneath the orbits, with a projecting tubercle at their posterior margins : fourth and fifth gill 

 openings approximating. Teeth pointed with one or two or even four smaller points on either side. The 

 anterior dorsal fin behind the ventral, but both dorsals before the anal : pectorals and ventrals rounded, as 

 are also the anal and caudal : the anal without an anterior angle and arched downwards, terminating 

 posteriorly in a point : lower margin of caudal convex. 



Chiloscyllium plagiosum. 



Scyllium plagiosum, Bennett, Life of Raffles, p. 693, {young.) 



Bokee Soeeah, Russell, pi. xvi. [young.) 



Ea Soerah, Russell, pi. x. [adult) 



Scyllium oknatum, Gray, 111. I. Z. i. pi. 98, f. 2, (young.) 



Chiloscyllium plagiosum, Cantor, Catal. p. 392 ; Dumeril, Suite cle Buffon, Ickthy- 



ologie generale, i. p. 328. 

 Ettee, Mai. 



Snout rounded, mouth slightly arched, under lip skinny, broad, and divided from the throat 

 by a transverse fissure. Nostrils with separated nasal valves, each having a projecting tubercle at 

 their posterior margins. 



Teeth — Pointed, with one or two toothlets on either side. 



Fins — All more or less rounded. The pectoral commences under the second spiracle, and its 

 posterior margin is midway between the orbit and the ventral fins, its base equals the distance 

 between the first and last spiracle. The base of the ventral is about as broad as that of the 

 pectoral, and the length of its anterior margin is ecpial to that of its base, but its posterior margin 

 is half shorter. The anterior dorsal commences opposite the last third of the ventral, its front 

 edge is rather longer than its base, and twice as long as its posterior border. The second dorsal- 

 commences midway between the last spiracle aud the termination of the caudal, its anterior border 

 is longer than its base. The anal is as far from the anterior margin of the second dorsal as that 

 fin is from the posterior margin of the first dorsal, it is low, rounded behind, and scarcely so high 

 as the body above it. Caudal commences superiorly opposite the first third of the anal, it is very 

 low, its posterior extremity is inferiorly rounded, and it extends as far as the anal fin. 



Scales and ridges — The former are minute in the young, but in the adult they are moderately 

 wide, lanceolate, and keeled : along the centre of the back is a raised ridge extending from the 



2 m 2 



