54 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 202 Vol. 3 



of by Bleeker as follows: malabaricus is a synonym of punctatus; 

 neglectus is a synonym of scaber; and pristis is a synonym of celebicus. 

 Among those species of Thysanophrys remaining in the list, spinosus, 

 macrolepsis, longiceps, and tentaculatus have an ocular cutus, which is 

 lacking in our three new species. Three other species, japonicus, 

 meerdervoortii, and crocodilus have more than 70 vertical scale rows 

 above the lateral line, whereas all three new species have fewer than 

 70. The lateral line is unarmed in T. cirronasus, whereas in our 

 new species, the first, second, or third scales have spines. Sauvage 

 (Histoire naturelle des poissons in Grandidier, Histoire . . . de 

 Madagascar, vol. 16 (1887), pi. 36, figs. 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 1891) shows in 

 his plate that P. rodericensis and P. borboniensis have only one spine 

 on the suborbital ridge whereas our three new species have at least 4 

 spines on the upper ridge of the bony suborbital stay. This leaves one 

 species in Jordan and Richardson's list, T. detrusus, which lacks 

 spines on the lateral line; our three new species have a few anteriorly. 



In addition to Jordan and Richardson's published list, other species 

 have been described which differ from our three new species. Of 

 these, the following species completely lack spines on the lateral line 

 scales, as opposed to our three new species that have the first to third 

 scales, anteriorly, bearing spines: Platycephalus platysoma Zugmayer, 

 P. inops Jenyns, P. speculator KUiinzinger, Insidiator parilis Mc- 

 Culloch, Trudis bassensis westraliae Whitley, and Suggrundus hunti 

 Fowler. The following species have more than the first five scales 

 of the lateral line bearing spines or all of them spiny: Platycephalus 

 gruveli Pellegrin, P. heterolepis Barnard, P. cooperi Regan, Insidiator 

 jugosus McCuUoch, and Sorsogona serrulata Herre. The following 

 species have more than 70 vertical scale rows above the lateral line, 

 whereas our new species have from 53 to 64 : Platycephalus papilloculus 

 Fowler, P. marmoratus Stead, P. (Neoplatycephalus) conatus Waite, 

 Planiprora melsomi Whitley, and Hyalorhynchus pellucidus Ogilby. 

 The following species, Platycephalus macrocephalus Weber, P. grandi- 

 squamus Regan, P. grandisquamis Weber, P. oligolepis Regan, P. 

 pedimacula Regan, and Parabembras robinsoni Regan, have fewer 

 than 45 pores in the lateral Une, whereas our three new species have 

 about 50 to 54. 



Two other species, Insidiator harrisi McCulloch and /. diversidens 

 McCuUoch, agreeing with our three new species regarding scalation, 

 have denticulate or moderately serrate cranial ridges, whereas our new 

 species have isolated, moderately strong spines. Another species, 

 Cymbacephalus armatus Fowler, has the orbital ridge serrate, about 

 50 vertical scale rows above the lateral line, and 52 vertical scale rows 

 below the lateral line, whereas the three new species have 53 to 64 

 above, and 67 to 86 vertical scale rows below the lateral line. 



