I. OPHIOCEPHALUS. 471 



lines ; caudal with transverse series of brown spots ; pectorals im- 

 maculate ; ventrals Avhite. 

 Eab. ? 



a. Fine specimen, sixty-two lines long. Perhaps from the Mauritius. 



Erom the Collection of the Zoological Society. 



b. Adult. From the Collection of the East India Company. 



This species is closely allied to 0. punctatus, but has a different 

 coloration. 



8. OpMocephalus gachua. 



Opliicepbalus gachua, Buch. Ham. Gang. Fishes, p. 68. pi. 21. iig. 21 ; 



Taylor in lirewsfcr's Edinb. Journ. Sc. 1831, v. pp. 34, 36. 

 aurantiacus, Buch. Sam. I. c. p. 09. pi. 23. fig. 22 ; Ciu: 4'- V^al. vii. 



p. 415 (? variety). 

 Kora-motta, Russell, ii. p. 49. 

 Ophicephalus limbatus, Cuv. <5" Val. vii. pi. 201 . 

 margiuatus, Cuv. Sf Val. vii. p. 411 ; Bkek. Verh. Bat. Gen. xxiii., 



Labyr. p. 14 ; Jacq. Voy. Ind. Poiss. pi. 13. fig. 2. 



cora-mota, Cuv. 4' Val. vii. p. 414. 



fuscus, Cuv. ^~ Val. v^ii. p. 414. 



montanu3, MacClell. Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 583. 



D. 34-37. A. 21-23. L. lat. 45. L. transv. 3/7. 



No large teeth in the jaws, several on the vomer sUghtly enlarged. 

 The height of the body is contained six times in the total length, the 

 length of the head four times and a half, the length of the caudal 

 six times and two-tliirds. The width of the interorbital space is 

 much more than the length of the snout, and two-sevenths of that 

 of the head. The maxillary extends to the vertical from the poste- 

 rior margin of the eye. There are four seizes of scales between the 

 eye and the angle of the pra3operculum. The pectoral does not ex- 

 tend to the origin of the anal fin, and its length is two-thirds of that 

 of the head. The length of the ventral is less than one-half of that 

 of the pectoral. Bro\vnish (in spirits), with indistinct cross-bars on 

 the back. Dorsal and anal with a very narrow, caudal with a broader 

 whitish margin ; jjectoral with several transverse scries of brown 

 dots, more distinct on the basal portion of the fin than towards the 

 extremity. 



Fresh waters of the East Indian Continent and Archipelago. 



a-b. Fine specimens. East Indies. Presented by G. Ii. Waterhouse, 



Esq. — Types of the species. 

 c. Half-grown. East Indies. Presented by Dr. Horsfield. 

 d-e. Adult and half-grown. Dukhun. From the Collection of the 



East India Company. 

 /. Adult : stufled. Afghanistan. From the Collection of the East 



India Company as Oiihiocephalus montanus, Griff. 



0. aurantiacus, Buch. Ham., may prove to be a distinct species. 

 Although the author says that it agrees in every respect with 0. ga- 

 cJma except in colour, yet the figure represents a fish with consider- 

 ably larger scales. The tj-jncal specimen is not preserved in the Collec- 

 tion presented by Mr. Waterhouse ; and, in fact, the drawing is taken 



