350 ’ LIEUT.-COL. W. H, SYKES ON THE 
specimens. I have to a great extent adopted the names by which the fishes are called 
by the Mahrattas, as specific names, so that naturalists who travel the country can al- 
ways obtain them. 
Ord. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
Fam. Percips. 
Genus Amsassis, Agass. 
This genus belongs to Cuvier’s second subdivision of the family Percide. Buchanan 
Hamilton proposed the name Chanda for the same genus, but this name has not been 
adopted. 
Ampassis BaRLovi. 
Tab. LX. Fig. 1. 
An Ambassis, with the two back fins united; with the first ray indented on the edge, and containing 7 
spines, and the second 14 spines; all the spines longer than the membrane; with 18 rays, longer 
than the membrane, in the anal fin; and with a short, vertically compressed, diaphanous body. 
Form short, very compressed, and high: of a yellowish silvery colour, and diaphanous : 
dorsal fin of 22 unequal bony rays ; anal fin of 18 rays ; pectoral fin of 10 rays ; ventral 
with 6 rays, of which the first is bony: tail forked, and having 27 rays, including 5 mi- 
nute rays on the outer side of each of the longest rays. Greatest size of the fish 3 inches. 
Under jaw projecting beyond the upper: shortest dorsal rays in the centre of the fin - 
rays generally bony or spiny: scales remarkably thin, and with difficulty discoverable. 
The natives say it is an ocean fish: the name given to it by them is revolting, and 
it is considered unwholesome. 
This species closely corresponds in its form to the Chanda Ranga of Dr. Hamilton’s 
drawing, but it has two rays more in the dorsal fin and three in the anal, and moreover, 
has its rays mostly prickles, the membranes shorter than the prickles, and the fins not 
arched : it has not the gill cover-plates at all indented, and is not greenish in colour: 
it must therefore be considered a distinct species, and the difference of location justifies 
the inference. Found in the Beema river, at Pairgaon. Native name, ‘ Gandreechree.’ 
I at one time thought the present species was the Ambassis Commersonii of Cuvier and 
Val., but the formula of the fin-rays in that species differs, being — D. 7 — 1 | 9; A. 
3|9;C.17;P.12;V.1|5. Ihave named this fish after my friend the Secretary of 
the Zoological Society. 
Fam. ScomBripD&. 
Genus MasracemBetus, Gron. 
MastTacEMBELUS ARMATUS. 
Tab. LX. Fig. 2. 
A Mastacembelus, with the fins of the tail, back, and vent, united; with thirty-nine to forty short, sharp, 
bony spines along the back, and two behind the vent. 
