30 BULLETIN 10 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Genus TOXOTES Cuvier 



Toxotes Cuvier, Regue Animal, vol. 2, 1817, p. 338. T3'pe Sciaena jaculatrix 



Pallas, monotypic. 

 Trompe Gistel, Naturg. Thierr., 1844, pp. xi, 109. Type Sciaena jaculatrix 



Pallas (virtually, as Trompe Gistel proposed to replace Toxotes Cuvier). 

 Amblytoxctes Bleeker, Arch. N6erl. Sci. Nat., vol. 11, 1876, p. 311. Type 



Toxotes squamosus Hutton, orthotypic. 



Body rather deep and compressed. Head conic, flattened above. 

 Eye large. Mouth large, terminal, protractile. Lower jaw protrudes. 

 Maxillary very slender, without supplemental bone. Fine teeth 

 pluriserial in jaws, on palate, pterygoids and tongue. Preopercle 

 denticulate. Scales 20 to 40 in lateral series. Head scaled. Dorsal 

 spines 4 to 6, rays 11 to 14. Anal spines 3, rays 12 to 18. 



Called the archer fishes as they are said to shoot insects alighting 

 near the water, with drops of water expelled from the mouth. A 

 single genus, with 6 species in the fresh waters and along the coasts 

 of India, the Andamans, Burma, Siam, Malaya, the East Indies, 

 Philippines, north Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia. 



ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIES 



a'. Toxotes. Scales large, 22 to 48 in lateral series; spinous vertical fins scaly 



basally, greater terminal portion naked; dorsal rays 11 to 14; anal 11 to 17. 



b^. Dorsal spines 4; scales 28 to 30 in lateral series, 13 or 14 transversely, and 



4 above lateral line to dorsal base jaculator 



fc2. Dorsal spines 5. 



c^ Scales 23 or 24 in lateral series, 14 or 15 transversely, 3 between lateral 



line and dorsal base oligolepis 



c^. Scales 33 or 34 in lateral series, 16 to 18 transversely, 5 between lat- 

 eral line and dorsal base chatareus 



c?. Scales 40 to 42 in lateral series, 19 or 20 transversely, 6 between lat- 

 eral line and dorsal base microlepis 



c*. Scales 46 in lateral series, 22 transversely lorentzi 



a^. Amblytoxctes. Scales small, 85 in lateral series; spinous vertical fins 

 equally scaly as soft fins; dorsal rays 23, anal 23 squamosus 



TOXOTES JACULATOK (Pallas) 



Sciaena jaculatrix Pallas, Philos. Trans., vol. 56, 1766, p. 187, pi. 8, fig. 6. 

 Batavia, Java. — Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encyclop., Ichth., 1788, p. 121 (Sea 

 of Indies). 



Lahr us jaculator Lac^pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 3, 1802, pp. 425, 464 (on 

 Bonnaterre). — Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. 4, 1804, p. 485, pi. 68. 



Toxotes jaculator Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. 2, 1817, p. 338; Hist. Nat. 

 Poiss., vol. 7, 1831, p. 314, fig. 192 (Ganges River, Dorey Havre).— 

 Guerin, Iconog. Regne Animal, Poiss., vol. 1, 1829-44, pi. 26, fig. 3; vol. 

 3, Poiss., p. 19 (India and China).— Day, Fishes of Malabar, 1865, p. 37 

 (copied). — Peters, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1868, p. 257 (Calbi- 

 gan, Basey River, Samar). — Gunther, Cruise of Curagoa, Brenchley,^ 

 1873, p. 410 (Misol, Moluccas). — Castelnau, Proc. Zool. Acclim. Soc. 

 Victoria, vol. 2, 1873, p. 84 (Port Darwin, North Australia).- — Day, Fishes 

 of India, pt. 1, 1875, p. 117 (Andamans). — Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Ind. 



