44 



nuchal shields. Operculum with a complete longitudinal keel 

 and radiating ridges. Snout longer than remaining part of head. 

 Dorsal rather long, with more than 30 rays, opposite to vent, 

 situated above at least 7 rings belonging for their largest part 

 to the tail; anal behind middle of length, pectorals present, 

 caudal well developed, generally the middle ray prolonged. 

 Eggs small, numerous, isolated in open cells belonging to the 

 swollen skin of the somewhat dilated abdomen of the male; 

 they are not covered by cutaneous folds but laterally protected 

 by ventrally diverging plates belonging to the lower lateral 

 edges of the trunk. 



Distribution: Living in fresh- and brackish water con- 

 nected with tropical seas. 



Key to the indo-australian species of Microphis. 



I. Inferior cristae of trunk and tail discontinuous; median 

 cristae of trunk and inferior cristae of tail continuous 

 (fig. 17, n°. 5). 



a. Snout somewhat longer than twice length of post- 

 orbital part of head; head 4'/.2 — 5 times in length. AF. brachyurus \i. i,i,. 



b. Snout much shorter than twice length of postorbital 



part of head; head about 7 times in length Af.vianade/isis ^. i\6. 



II. Inferior cristae of trunk and tail continuous : median 

 cristae of trunk not continuous with inferior cristae of 

 tail, but subcontinuous with superior cristae of tail 

 (fig. 17, n^ 8, 9, 10). 



a. D. 47 — 61 M. boaja p. 47. 



b. D. 65 — 68 M. helerosoma^. ^"6. 



I. Microphis brachyurus (Blkr.) [Fig. 21, p. 43]. 



Syngnathus brachyurus Bleeker, Verh. Bat. Genootsch. XXV. 1853, Troskieuwige 



Visschen p. 16. 

 Syngnathtis cujicahts Bleeker, 1. c. Nalezingen Ichth. fauna van Bengalen en 



Hindostan p. 162 (nee Buchanan). 

 Sy/iguaihtis brachyurus Bleeker, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Indie VIII. 1854, p. 105. 

 Syngnathus polyacanthus Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Neerl. I. 1856, Visschen 



Manado, p. 77. 

 Doryichthys Hasseltii Kaup, Cat. Lophobr. Fish, 1856, p. 57- 

 Doryichthys auronitens Kaup, ibid. p. 59. 

 Doryichthys millepunctatus Kaup, ibid. p. 60. 

 Microphis brachyurus Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Neerl. VIII. i860, 8. Bijdr. 



Visschen Sumatra, p. 72. 

 Microphis cuncaltis Bleeker, ibid, (nee Buchanan). 

 Syngnathus Schlegeli Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1865, p. 316 (nee Kaup). 



