460 OLUPEIDiE. 



10. PEISTIGASTER * 



Odontognatlius, Lacep. ii. p. 220 ; Cuv. Regne A7i. 

 Gnatliobolus, £1. Schn. p. 556. 

 Pristigaster, Cuv. Rhjne Anini. 

 Raconda, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 9. 



Pristigaster ct Opistliopterus, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. 186 1 , 

 p. 31. 

 Body much compressed, with the abdominal serrature very con- 

 spicuous. Scales of moderate size, thin, deciduous. Lower jaw 

 projecting beyond the upper. Distinct bands of small, viUiform 

 teeth along the palatine and pterygoid bones and along the tongue, 

 none on the vomer. Anal fin very long, with more than fifty rays ; 

 dorsal fin, if present, opposite to the origin or the middle of the anal 

 fin. Ventral Jins none. Caudal deeply forked. 

 Tropical seas. 



The species may be subdivided thus : — 



A. Dorsal fin, if present, behind the origin of the anal. 



1. Maxillary not prolonged backwards : Pristigaster, p. 460. 



2. Maxillary tapering and prolonged backwards in adult examples. 



a. Dorsal fin present : Odontognatlms, p. 462. 

 6. Dorsal fin none : Raconda, p. 462. 



J3. Dorsal fin nearly opposite to the origin of the anal, p. 463. 



A. Dorsal Jin, if present, behind the origin of the anal. 

 1. Maxillary not pi-ohnged backioards : Pristigaster. 



1. Pristigaster tartoor. 



Tartoore, Russell, ii. p. 74, pi. 193. 



Pristigaster tartoor, Cuv. &i Val. xx. p. 328 ; Bleek. Verh. Rat. Ge7i. 



xxiv. Haring, p. 25 ; Day, Fish. Mcflab. p. 232. 

 Opisthopterus tartoor, (Gill) Bleek. Ned, Tydschr. Dicrk. iii. 1866, 



p. 296. 



B. 6. D. 13-17. A. 57-65. L. lat. 50-60. 



The height of the body is one-fourth of the total length (without 

 caudal), the length of the head one-fifth. Origin of the dorsal fin 

 equidistant between the root of the caudal and the vertical from 

 that of the pectoral. The length of the maxiUary is less than one- 

 half of tliat of the head ; its posterior (supplementary) portion 

 reaches nearly to the end of the bone, and is rather broad. 



East Indies. 

 a. Prom Dr. Bleeker's Collection. 



* 1. Pristigaster chinensis, Basilcwski, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Nat. Mosc. x. 1855, 

 p. 243.— China. 



