1. MALACANTHUS. 361 



Malacantlius lato-vittatus, Quoy ^ Gaim. Voy. Astrol. iii. p. 701. 



pi. 20. fig. 3 (var.). 

 tseniatus, Cuv. (§• Val. xiii. p. 327. pi. 381 ; Bleek. Natmcrk. 



Tydschr. Nederl. Ind. ii. p. 218. 



B. 5. D. ^. A. i-. L. lat. 125. 



40 40 



The height of the body is one-seventh of the total length ; caudal 

 subtruncated. A broad black lateral band. 

 Mauritius ; New Guinea. 



a. Adult: stuffed. Presented by Sir A. Smith. 



3. Malacanthus hoedtii. 



Bleek. Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Nederl. vi., New Guinea, p. 18. 



D. 5 I 53. A. 50. 



Operculum with a very strong and flat spine. Scales very small. 

 Caudal fin with two parallel and horizontal black bands. 

 Louisiade Archipelago ; New Guinea ; Mauritius. 



a. Stuffed. Louisiade Archipelago. Voyage of the ' Rattlesnake.' 

 6. Stuffed. Mauritius. From Dr. Janvier's Collection. 



Description. — The body is elongate and slightly compressed, its 

 height, above the ventral fins, being one-ninth of the total length. 

 The length of the head (the opercular spine included) is one-fifth of 

 the total ; the space between the orbits is flat and rather broad, its 

 width being one-fourth of the length of tlie head. The extent of 

 the snout is moderate, nearly equal to the width of the head between 

 the orbits. The cleft of the mouth is oblique, with the jaws equal 

 anteriorly ; the upper maxillary reaches beyond the anterior margin 

 of the eye. The upper surface of the head and the snout are^cale- 

 less. The eye is rather large, 4|- in the length of the head, and 

 situated high up the sides. The nostrils are near the upper anterior 

 angle of the orbit. The limbs of the proeoperculum are equal in 

 length, and meet at a rather obtuse angle. The cheeks and opercles 

 are covered with very small scales ; the operculum is small, but 

 armed with a veiy strong and flat spine, which extends beyond the 

 vertical from the origin of the dorsal fin. 



The dorsal fin begins at a distance from the occiput which equals 

 that between the occiput and the extremity of the snout. The. five 

 anterior unarticulated rays or spines are very feeble, and increase in 

 length posteriorly, as the anterior rays do. The middle two-fourths 

 of the fin are the highest, their height being one-third of the length 

 of the head. The distance between the dorsal and caudal fins equals 

 the depth of the tail below the extremity of the dorsal. The caudal 

 is subtruncated and rather short, its length being 8f in the total. 

 The anal fin begins below the thirteenth ray of the dorsal (the spines 

 included), and ends opposite the dorsal. The anterior rays are not 

 so short as in the dorsal fin, but, in the middle, both fins are equal in 

 height. The pectoral is slightly rounded, the middle rays being the 



