326 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



last fin is cut square. Pectoral witli the outer lialf of its eight lower rays free ; two fleshy prominences 

 anterior to the anal fin. Colours — a rich brown, becoming whitish on the chest, and blotched all over with 

 black marks, leaving narrow interspaces of ground colour : fins spotted. 



Halitat. — A specimen (figui-ed life-sized) is in the Calcutta Museum, it was dredged off Galle harbour 

 by Dr. J. Anderson. 



Professor Peters showed me an equally fine one from the Sandwich Islands in the Berlin Museum. 



2. Blennius Steindachneri, Plate LXX, fig. 1. 



Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 110. 



B. vi, D. 11-12 i 15-16, P. 14, V. 3, A. (2+) 16-18, C. 11. 



Length of head 4| to 4f, of caudal 6 to G\, height of body ^ to 5J in the total length. Eyes— 

 diameter 3? in length of "head, 1 diameter fi-om end of snout, and 1/2 a diameter apart. Snout obtuse, not 

 overhanging the mouth. The maxilla reaches to below the first third of the eye. No crest on the head, but a 

 line of eight or ten fringed tentacles from above the eye to the base of the dorsal fin : in some specimens the 

 longest are 1^ diameters of the orbit in height, usually they are less. A fringed orbital tentacle about half the 

 length of the eye in extent, another at'the nostril. Teeth — a small posterior canine in the lower jaw a 

 little beyond the last tooth. Fins — first dorsal commences over the hind edge of the preopercle, it is 3/4 as high 

 as the body and rather higher than the second, it is not distinctly notched, but the last spines are rather lower 

 than the first rays, it is not continued on to the caudal. Pectoral nearly as long as the head, and almost 

 twice as long as the ventral. Anal in some specimens has the first two rays expanded and fringed at their 

 extremities into the form of rounded balls, in others these are absent. Caudal cut square. Colours — light 

 olive, with six indistinct brownish bands, as wide as the ground colour, and extending to the base of the dorsal 

 fin : the whole of the body and fins dotted with black, and occasionally with some white spots above the anal fin. 

 A large black, white-edged ocellus, between the first and second dorsal rays. Some vertical red bands on the 

 pectoral and caudal fins. Anal dark, with two rows of light blue spots on the anterior and three on the posterior 

 rays, which have also small black dots and a narrow white edge. In some specimens all the dots are black. 



Blennius semifasciahts, Rupp. N. W. Fische, p. IM^Salarias ajdops, Eiipp. Atl. Fische, p. 113, t. 28, 

 f. 3, appears closely allied to this species, but the dorsal fin is scarcely notched, the tentacles and colours 

 likewise dift'er. Another allied species is B. emarginatus, Giinther, which has the dorsal spot very distinct, but 

 the fin is more deeply cleft. 



Eahitnt. — Kun-achee, to 4 inches in length. They are common in pools left by the receding tides on the 

 rocks of Oyster island. There are two illustrations of this species amongst Sir Walter Elliot's drawings, the 

 largest was captured at Waltair, March 15th, 1853, the smaller one was pumped up on board the Samarang, 

 April 6th, 1860, in the Bay of Bengal, Lat. 14', 18 N. Long. 82-30 E. 



Genus, 2 — Peteoscirtes, BiijijieU. 



Osmolranclms, Ehrenb. : Blenneclds, Cuv. and Val. : Aspidontus, Quoy and Gaim. 



Branchiostegals six : pseudohranchice. Gill-openings reduced to a small foramen ahove the root of the pectoral 

 fin. Body somewhat elongated. Snout short or of moderate length : cleft of mouth narrow : head sometimes with 

 tentacles. Teeth, a single row of fi.red ones in the jaws, with laterally a strongly curved canine. Dorsal fin single or 

 with a semi-detached portion : ventrals jugular, with tiuo to four rays. No scales. Air-vessel present. Pyloric 

 appendages absent. 



Geographical distrihution. — Coasts of the Red Sea, those of India to the Malay Archipelago and the 

 Pacific. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES. 



1. Petroscirtes punctatus, D. 34, A. 22-23. Head 6J in the total. Spots and four or five narrow horizontal 

 lines on body. A dark band along the dorsal fin. India to Australia. 



2. Petroscirtes hipunctatus, D. 33, A. 23. Head 5 in the total. Four blue lines on the head, two spots on 

 dorsal fin. Calicut. 



3. Petroscirtes variabilis, D. 28-31, A. 17-21. Head 6j in the total. A wide dark band from eye to 

 caudal fin. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. 



4. Petroscirtes Lienardi, D. 3 | 10 | 17, A. 18-20. Head 4| to 4f in the total. Vertically banded and 

 spotted. Sind. 



5. Petroscirtes cyprinwides, D. 30, A. 20. Head ^ in the total. Bands along the body, also spots. Seas 

 of India to China. 



6. Petroscirtes hreviceps, D. 30, A. 19. Head A\ in the total. Black band along the head and side of 

 body : dorsal dotted with black. Bay of Bengal. 



1. Petroscirtes punctatus. 



Blennechis punctatus, Cuv. and Val. xi, p. 286. 

 Omobranchus punctatus, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 274. 

 Petroscirtes punctatus, Giinther, Catal. iii, p. 231. 



