130 



Length (of a nearly adult female) 4- inches. 



Bay of Bengal, off Madras coast 107 and 91 fathoms : Arabian Sea, off 

 Kattiwar coast, 82 fathoms, and off Malabar coast, 100 and 68 to 148 fathoms. 



Regd. Nos. 13615-13618, 13621-13628, ~, ~^. 



In form and colour this species at first sight resembles Solea cyanea (Ann. 

 Mag. Nat. Hist., Dec. 1890, p. 439), from which it is distinguished — specimens 

 of equal size being compared — by the much larger head and mouth, by the 

 larger and more widely separated eyes, and by the fewer rays in the dorsal and 

 anal fins. It is however closely allied to Solea cyanea, and also to Solea 

 melanostida, Peters (MB. Ak. Berl., 1876, p. 845), and Solea kaiana, Gthr. 

 {' Challenger'' '^Ixove fishes, p. 49, pi. XXI., fig. C.) — all being comparatively 

 deep-water forms of the East Indian Seas. 



Aphoristia, Kaup. 



Aphoristia, Kaap, Archiv. fiir Naturgeg. XXIV. 1858, i. p. 106 ; Giinthor, Cat. Fishes, IV. p. 490 : Goode and 

 Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 458. 



Symphtirus, Rafinesque, Jordan and Evermann, Fishes N. Amer. III., p. 2704. 



Body elongate, lanceolate. Mouth narrow, more developed on the blind 

 (right) side, where alone there are minute teeth in the jaws. Snout hardly 

 hooked. Eyes on the left side. The dorsal fin begins above the middle of the 

 eye : it and the anal are confluent with the caudal. No pectoral fins. Only one 

 ventral — the left — present. Scales of moderate size, ctenoid. No lateral line. 



Gill-openings narrow, the gill-membranes rather broadly united. Gill- 

 rakers minute. 



Distribution : "West Indies and American coasts of North Atlantic ; Bay of 

 Bengal, Andaman Sea, and Gulf of Manar. 



Key to the Indian species of Aphoristia. 



I. Height of the body rather more than a fourtli of the total length : 

 no cross-stripes : some coloration on the right side : — 



1. Eyes so far forward that the mouth-cleft reaches to at least 

 the middle of the lower one : the origin of the anal is 



hardly an eye-length behind the base of the ventral ... A. Gilesii. 



2. The mouth-cleft does not reach to the middle of the lower 

 eye : the origin of the anal is at least two eye-lengths be- 

 hind the base of the ventral ... ... ... A. Wood-Masoni. 



II. Height of the body a fourth, or less than a fourth of the total 

 length : dark cross-bands ou the left side, no coloration on the right 

 side: — 



1. Length of the head a fourth of the total : 3 (sometimes 4) 

 cross-bands... ... ... ... ... A. trifasciata. 



2. Length of the head a fifth of the total : 7 (sometimes 6) 

 cross-bands... ... ... ... ... A. septemstriata. 



