266 CHBOMIDES. 



in one or two series. Anterior prominences of the branchial arches 

 not numerous, short, conical, hard. Dorsal fin not scaly. 

 Western parts of India. 



1. Etroplus suratensis. 



Ch?etodon suratensis, Bl. taf. 217 ; Lac6p. iv. p. 461. 

 Etroplus meleagris, Cuv. <§• Val. v. p. 486. 



D.]±±9 A. -^. L. lat. 40. L. transv. 23. Vert. 17/14. 



14-10 11-12 



Greenish, each scale with a pearl-coloured dot. Body with five 

 more or less indistinct dark vertical bands ; root of the pectoral 

 blackish. 



Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel. Ceylon. 



a. Adult : skin. Ceylon. From Dr. Kelaart's Collection. 



h, c, d. Adult and half-grown. Ceylon. 



e. Half-grown. From the Collection of the Zoological Society. 



According to a communication from Dr. v. Bleeker, he intends to 

 separate this species generically from E. maculatus, retaining the 

 name of Etroplus for the former, and adopting that of Pseudetroplus 

 for the latter. He writes, that the characters of the new genus are, 

 tricuspid teeth, and a scaly sheath along the base of the dorsal and 

 anal fins. I find these characters equally developed in E. suratensis 

 and in E. maculatus, and I can come to no other conclusion than that 

 Dr. V. Bleeker either has a third species, different from both, or that 

 he has taken the characters for Etroplus from a very old specimen of 

 E. suratensis in which the incisions in the front teeth have become 

 obsolete. 



2. Etroplus maculatus. 



ChiEtodon maculatus, Bl. taf. 427. fig. 2 (not descr.). 



maculatus, BL Schn. p. 228. 



kakaitsel, Lacep. iv. p. 543. 



Etroplus maculatus, Cm: Sf Val. v. p. 489. 

 conichi, Cuv. 8f Val v. p. 491. pi. 136. 



n 12 A ]1!^. L. lat. 40. L. transv. 22. Caec. pylor. 3. 



Vert. 15/13. 

 Greenish, each scale with a silvery margin ; a round black spot on 

 the side. 



Coast of Malabar. 



a-h. Adult. From tho Collection of the Zoological Society. 



c. Adult : skeleton. From the Collection of the Zoological Society. 



The caudal portion of the vertebral column is scarcely longer than 

 the abdominal. The first haemal spine and the anterior interha?mals 

 form together a subsemicircular arch enclosing the posterior portion 

 of the abdominal cavity. 



