﻿124 GAKGETic FISHES. Order IV. 



the vent fin. The vent is behind the middle. The lateral lines 

 are high, and run parallel to the back. The scales adhere firm- 

 ly, and are small on the body, and minute on the head ; but all 

 have indented edges. 



The bach fin consists of two united, but distinguishable. The 

 foremost contains ten strong prickles, and is indented like a saw 

 on the edge. The prickles from the first, which is very short, 

 increase rapidly in length to the fourth, which is the longest ; 

 and from thence they decrease gradually in length to the last, 

 which is but little longer than the first. The posterior fin, 

 covered half way with scales, occupies the slope on the tail, 

 and with its ridge forms a vertical arch, its rays shortening very 

 gradually towards the end of the tail : the first is a short 

 prickle, which is not much more than half the length of the 

 next, that is undivided ; the remaining sixteen are branched. 

 The pectoral fins are low, short, and blunt, but their upper rays 

 are the longest. Each contains eighteen rays, of which the first, 

 second, and eighteenth, are undivided. The ventral fins are 

 near each other, each having six rays, of which the first is a 

 very strong prickle, and the others are branched, the first 

 branch of the second ray being lengthened out into a long 

 awl-shaped flexible appendant. Beliind the vent there are two 

 fins slightly united into one. The edge of the foremost forms 

 a concavity between every two prickles, and slopes gradually 

 towards the end. It contains three strong prickles, of which the 

 second is rather longer than the first. The hinder fin is covered 

 halfway with scales, and placed on the slope of the tail ; and its 

 rays decrease gradually backward from the second, which is the 

 longest. The first is a short prickle ; the second is soft, but 

 undivided ; and the other thirteen are branched. The tail fin 

 is fan-shaped, and contains fourteen distinct rays, besides some 

 short compacted ones at each side. 



When employed in taking an account of Malabar, I had an 



