Ui ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Family, VI— CIEEHITID^, Grmj. 



Peiroiilei, pt., et Sciccnoiilei, pt., Cuv. : Themponiilv, pt., et Pohjnemidie, pt. Richardson. 



Branchiostegals three, five or six : pseudobranchis. Body oblong and compressed. Mouth in front of 

 snout having a lateral cleft. Eyes of moderate size : cheeks not cuirassed. Teeth in the jaws villiform or 

 pointed, sometimes canines as well : vomerine and palatine teeth present or absent. A single dorsal fin com- 

 posed of spines and rays of nearly equal extent: anal with three spines. Lower pectoral rays simple, and 

 generally thickened : ventrals thoracic, at some distance from the insertion of the pectorals, and having one 

 spine and five rays. Scales cycloid : lateral-line continuous. Air-vessel absent, or with many appendages. 

 Pyloric appendages few. 



Georjraplucal distribution. — Tropical seas, likewise in the temperate parts of the South Pacific. 



SYNOPSIS OF GENERA. 



1. Girrhites. Branchiostegals sis. Opercle unarmed. No teeth on the palatines. Seas of India to the 

 Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



2. CirrJiitichthys. Branchiostegals six. Opercle with spines. Teeth on the palatines. Seas of India to 

 the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



Genus, 1 — CiREHiTES, (Comm.) Cuv. 



Amhlycirrhitus, GUI ; Paracirrhites, Bleeker.* 



Branchiosterjals six. Preoperde denticulated : opercle unarmed. Villiform teeth in loth jaws : canines 

 rjenerally present : teeth on the vomer, none on the palatines. A single dorsal fin with ten S2nnes : the lower five to 

 seven pectoral rays are unhranched. Scales of moderate size. Air-vessel absent. Pyloric appendages few. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES.t 



1. Cirrhites Forsteri, D. \~, P. 7-|-VII, A. f , L. 1. 50. Head and chest with black spots : a broad brown 

 or black band from the head to the upj)er half of the tail, and a yellow one below it. East coast of Africa, seas 

 of India. 



2. Cirrhites faseiatus, D. \^, P. 9 -}- V, A. f. Greyish, vertically banded with darker : white spots on 

 head and nape. PondicheiTy. 



1. Cirrhites Forsteri, Plate XXXV, fig. 4. 



Perca twniafa, Forster, Descrip. Anun. p. 224. 



Grainmistes Forsteri, Bl. Schn. p. 191. 



Sparus pantherinus, Lacep. iv, p. IGO, t. vi, fig. 1. 



Cirrhites pantherinus, Cuv. and Val. iii, p. 70 ; Less. Vov. Coq. Poiss. p. 22-5, pi. 22, fig. 1 ; Bleeker, 

 Banda, p. 232. 



Oerranus Tanhervillce, Bennett, Ceylon, p. 27, p. 27. 



Cirrhites Forsteri, Giinther, Catal. ii, p. 71, and GaiTctt's Fische d. Sudsee, t. sliv. A; Gill, Proc. Am. 

 Ac. Nat. Sci. PhU. 1862, p. 112; Klunz. Verh. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1870, p. 797. 



Ambhjcirrhites Forsteri, Bleeker, Ned. T. Dierk. iii, p. 175. 



Paracirrhites Forsteri, Bleeker, Cin-h. 1874, p. 6. 



B. vi, D. ifl, P. 7+VII, V. 1/5, A. A, C. 16, L. 1. 50, L. tr. 5/13, Csec. pyl. 4, Vert. 10/lG. 



Length of head 3^ to 1/4, of caudal 1/7, height of body 3j to 3| in the total length. Eyes — diameter 



* Genus Oxydrrhites, Bleeker, has the premaxillary produced a considerable distance in front of the mouth. Genus Paracir- 

 rhites has the scales on the cheeks large and regularly imbricated, and those on the body smaller ; whereas in Cirrhites the scales on the 

 body are large, and those on the cheeks small. 



t I have not included C. imnctatus, C. and V. iii, p. 70, which Dr. Giinther (in Catal. ii, p. 72) states comes from the " Indian 

 Ocean ?" as in the ' Histoire Naturelle des I'oissnns,' its locality is not given. In the British Museum Catalogue the existence of one 

 specimen is thus recorded, " a, Adult : stuffed. Sine patria." On the stand this is now marked " W. Indies." The .specimen is as 

 follows. 



D. |fi, P. 7+VII, V. 1/5, A. I, C. 16, L. r. 42, L. tr. 5/10. 



Length of head SJ, of caudal 2/11, height of body SJ- of the total length. Eyes — diameter 2/9 of length of head, i; diameters 

 from end of snout, and 2/3 of a diameter ap.nrt. Vertical limb of preopercle finely serrated. Interorbital space deeply convex. A short 

 tentacle at tlie anterior nostril. Fins — fifth dorsal sijine the longest, equalling the length of the rays, or SJ the height of the body : 

 second anal spine much the longest, equalling the highest in the dorsal fin. 



