SUPPLEMENT, 1888. 787 



Genus 1. Malacanthus, Cuv. 



Cleft of mouth horizontal, ivith the jaws equal anteriorly. Opercle with a spine: pre- 

 opercie entire. Eyes lateral. Villiform teeth in the jaws, having an outer band of stronger 

 07les : palate toothless. A long continuous dorsal fin with the first four to six rays not 

 articulated. 



Habitat. — Tropical seas. 



1. MALACANTH0S LATOVITTATTJS. 



Labrus latovittatus, Lacep. iii, p. 526, pi. xsviii, f. 2. 



TcBnianotus latovittatuSyJjuoep. iv, ^. S04!. n- i\, 



Malacanthus latovittatus, Quoy and Gaim. Voy. Astrol. iii, p. 701, pi. xx, f. 3 ; Gunther, 



Catal. iii, p. 361. ht ^ t j •• 



Malacanthus tmiiatus, Cut. and Val. xiii, p. 327, pi. 381 ; Bleeker, Nat. Tyds. Ned. Ind. ii, 



p. 218. 



B. iv-y, D. „*^, P. 17, V. 1/5, A. 33^,0. C 17, L. 1. 125. 



Length of head 4, of caudal fin 9, height of body 6 to 7 in the total length. Eyes- 

 high up, and situated nearly midway between the end of the snout and the posterior 

 extremity of the opercle, diameter 7 in the length of the head : cleft of mouth doesnot 

 reach to below the front edge of the orbit. Fins— the dorsal commences above the axil of 

 the pectoral but does not extend on to the caudal. 6'oZomw— brownish with a broad black 

 band along the side from the pectoral to the caudal fin. 



Habitat. — New Guinea, Mauritius. Ceylon (Haly). 



Page 134. For Lethrinus eostratus read L. miniatus. Add synonyms. 



Sparus miniatus (Forster) Bloch, Schn. p. 281. 



Lethrinus miniatus, Cuv. and Val. vi, p. 316 ; Bleeker, Atl. Ich. viii, p. 121, Perc. t. 



xxxi, f. 3. 

 Lethrinus olivaceiis et waigiensis, Cuv. and Val. vi, pp. 295, 297. 

 „ acutus, Klunz. Fis. R. Meeres, p. 38, t. vii, f. 1. 



Page 138. For Sphj:rodon heterodon read S. grandoculis. Add synonyms. 



Scicena grandoculis, Forsk. p. 53. 



Chrysophrys grandoculis, Cav. and Val. vi,p. 134. 



Lethrinus latidens, Cuv. and Val. vi, p. 316. 



Sphmrodon grandoculis, Riippell, N. W. Fische, p. 113, t. s.^viii, f. 2. 



„ latidens, Kner, iSTovara Fische, p. 83, t. iv, f. 1. 



Monotaxis grandoculis, Bleeker, Atl. Ich. viii, p. 105, Perc. t. xxi, f. 1. 



Page 138. Pagrus spinifer. Add synonym. 



Pagrus ruber, Boulenger, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, page 658. 



Mr. Boulenger has instituted a new species from the Persian Gulf having "a 

 protuberance between and in front of the eyes ;" of the dorsal spines the " third longest, 

 compressed and curved, its length one-third to one-fourth the depth of the body," being 

 apparently considered sufficient to characterize it. In Cuv. and Val. we are told that in 

 Fagrus spinifer the third dorsal spine is 2/3 the height of the body, and the fourth about 

 the same length. If, however, a large number of specimens are brought together it becomes 

 at once apparent that this difference in the length of the dorsal spines is almost entirely 

 owing to the age and size of the example. In two young specimens from Sind,_each 3 inches 

 long, the filamentosus prolongation reached the caudal fin, but as age increases the 



.sample is 13 inches long, 



7i| in the total. In two small specimens, 7 and 7-4 inches respectively in length sent to 

 the British Museum by Colonel Playfair, the length of the prolonged rays is absolutely 

 greater than in the larger examples. In a Madras specimen 4-8 inches long the_ third 

 dorsal spine is 2 inches long, or 2i in the total length ; and in a larger example 9 inches 

 long the third doi-sal spine is I'S inches long, or 1/5 of the total length, while the frontal 

 protuberance is well developed. I figured an intermediate sized one in which this spine 

 was about 3i in the total length or 2/3 of the height of the body. It is no doubt true 

 that in the young considerable variations are seen in the length of these rays, which 

 prolongations become absorbed with age. The two types of P. ruber are somewhat large 

 specimens, but if we examine the foregoing figures we see as follows respecting the third 

 dorsal spine, at 19 inches it equals lOf, at 13 inches 7^1, at 9 inches 5, at 7 inches 3^, at 



4'8 inches 21 in the total length. 



* 5 I 



