FAMILY, VII— SCORP^NID^. 155 



preorbital and preopercular spines: opercles armed. A mandibular barbel. Villiform, teeth in jaws, vomer and 

 palate. A single dorsal fin with more spAnes than rays (D. ^|-r|-^) : three anal spines : pectoral elongated, and having 

 a free ray at its base. Articulated fin-ra^ys branched. Scales present. Air-vessel ivith a constriction. A cleft behind 

 thefouiih gill. 



Geographical distribution. — From the Red Sea tlirougli those of India. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Apistus earinatus, D. ■'*-g-^°, P. 12-j-I, A. f, L. r. 70. Body greyish above, rosy below : pectoral black 

 and a black blotch on the spinous dorsal : soft dorsal and anal banded in spots. Seas of India to the Malay 

 Archipelago and beyond. 



1. Apistus carinatus, Plate XXXVII, fig. 4. 

 Scorpcena carinata, Bl. Sclm. p. 193. 



Trigla worrah-minoo, Russell, Fish. Vizag. ii, p. 45, pi. 160, B. 



Apistus alatus, Cuv. and Val. iv, p. 392 ; Tern. Schleg. Fauna Japon, p. 49 ; Giinther, Catal. ii, p. 131. 

 Apistus carinntus, Cuv. and Val. iv, p. 395. 



Apistus Israelitarum, (Ehrenb.) Cuv. and Val. iv, p. 39G ; Giinther, Catal. ii, p. 131 ; Klunz. Vcrh. z. b. 

 Ges. Wien, 1870, p. 809. 



Pterichthys alatus et carinatus, Swainson, Fish, ii, p. 265. 

 Polemius alatus, Kaup. Wiegm. Arch. 1858, p. 333. 



B. vi, D. "^^S P. 12+1, V. 1/5, A. f, C. 12, L. r. 70. 



Length of head from 2/7 to 3/11, of caudal 1/4 to 2/9, height of body 3/13 to 1/4 of the total length. 

 Eyes — directed slightly upwards and outwards, diameter 2/7 to 1/4 of length of head, rather above 1 diameter 

 from end of snout, and 1/3 of a diameter apart. Upper surface of the head rugose with two divergent lines 

 passing from the snout between the eyes to the occiput where they terminate in small spines a little in front of 

 either side of the base of the dorsal fin. The maxilla reaches to below the centre of the orbit. Preorbital spine as 

 long as the orbit, having two small ones anteriorly on the lower edge of the bone. Preopercle with one strong 

 spine and two or three small ones along its lower edge : opercle rugose, with two spines and a spinate temporal 

 ridge. Barbels — a long slender one, equalling the diameter of the eye, is situated below the mandibular 

 symphysis, and another a short distance behind it. Teeth — villiform in jaws, vomer and palate. Fins — first 

 dorsal spines increase to the sixth, then decrease to the fourteenth ; in some specimens the first few dorsal spines 

 are shorter than in others : membrane deeply notched, fifteenth spine nearly twice as long as the preceding 

 one : pectoral reaching to the base of the last dorsal ray, its single appendage to the first of the anal : ventral 

 slightly longer : third anal spine the longest : caudal cut square. Scales — small, somewhat trefoil in shape. 

 Air-vessel — thick, constricted in the centre. Colours — body greyish along the back, becoming rosy on the 

 abdomen : pectorals deep black : appendage milk-white : dorsal diaphanous, tinged with grey and edged with 

 black, a deep black blotch from the eighth to the fourteenth spine : three oblique brownish streaks on the soft 

 dorsal, which also has a brown edging : upper pectoral ray white : caudal with four vertical black bands : anal 

 greyish, with a yellow horizontal band. 



Russell mentions a variety of a grey colour. Ehrenberg's specimen at Berlin has D.y'j ^lot y as given by 

 C.V. and Klunzinger. 



Habitat. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond, attaining 5 inches in length. 



Genus, 7- — Centkopogon, Giinther. 

 (hjmnapistes, sp. Swainson. 



Branchiostegals six or seven. Head and body rather strongly compressed : no groove on occiput. Preorbital 

 with a strong spine, preopercle likewise spinate : opercle armed. Villiform teeth in the jaws, vomer a7id palatine 

 bones. A single dorsal fin with 'more s^nnes than rays (D. •'yl^^) : anal with three spines : pectoral iviihout any free 

 rays at its base: articulated fin-rays branched. Scales prreseitt. (A narrow cleft behind the fourth gill.) 



Geographical distribution.- — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Ccntropogon Lidicus, D. y , A. f, L. r. 80. Pinkish, with irregular bands on the head : bars on body, 

 anal and caudal fins. Madras. 



1. Centropogon Indicus, Plate XXXVIII, fig. 2. 



B. vii, D. V, P. 10, V. 1/4, A. I, C. 14, L. r. 80. 



Length of head 3/10, of caudal 1/5, height of Isody 1/4 of the total length. Eyes — diameter 2/7 of length 

 of head, 3/4 of a diameter from end of snout, and 2/3 of a diameter apart. The maxilla reaches to below the 

 first third of the eye : lower jaw shghtly the longer. Interorbital space slightly concave, traversed by two 

 ridges which posteriorly have rather spinate terminations. Preorbital with a strong spine extending to below 

 the last third or hind edge of the eye, and having a small one at its base. A strong preopercular spine equal to 



X 2 



