ON THE FISHES FEOM THE MALDIVE ISLANDS. 



I. DREDGED. II. FRESH-WATER. 



By C. TATE REGAN, B.A., Assistant at the Natural History Museum, 



S. Kensingto7i. 



The Collection of Fishes from the Maldive Islands has been divided into two series. The 

 first consists of the specimens dredged or trawled within the lagoons of the atolls. The second 

 contains a few specimens taken from fresh-water pools on some of the islands. 



The use of formalin as a preservative has rendered the fin rays very brittle, so that in 

 most of the specimens the fins are more or less damaged. 



I take this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging my indebtedness to Mr Boulenger, who 

 has very kindly looked through the collection under notice, and confirmed my identifications. 



I. DREDGED FISHES FROM WITHIN THE LAGOONS. 



There are 321 specimens, belonging to 65 species. They are mostly small, the lagoons 

 probably being nurseries for young fish. This has made identification a very difficult matter 

 in many cases, so that some specimens have been referred only to their genus, and many, 

 which seem without doubt to belong to hitherto undescribed species, have been only briefly 

 described, and have not been given specific names. 



A list of the species follows. For convenience of reference I have kept to the arrange- 

 ment of families in Giinther's Study of Fishes. 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 

 Fam. Percidae. 



1. Apogon auritus, C. and V. Suvadiva, 44/". (fathoms). 



2. Apogon elliotti, Day. {Apogon nigripinnis, Gthr. (Part) ; Apogon arafurae, Gthr.) 



Gunther identified specimens belonging to this species with Apogon nigripinnis, C. and V., 

 and later described a somewhat large specimen from the Challenger Collection as a new species. 



