64 



tudinal keel, from which radiate ventrally some prominent 

 ridges. Snout short, slightly shorter or longer than postorbital 

 part of head. Dorsal with 22 — 27 rays, situated above 4 — 6 

 rings of the trunk and 2 — 4 of the tail; anal behind middle 

 of length; pectorals large, caudal especially so. Eggs large, 

 isolated in cells of the abdominal skin of the male. They are 

 enclosed by extensive lateral cutaneous folds, which are tem- 

 porarely united in the median line. 



Distribution: Marine shore fishes in the indo-pacific 

 region from the Red Sea, Mauritius, Madagascar, indo-australian 

 Archipelago, Japan to Pacific Islands. • 



I. Doryrhamphus melanopleura (Blkr.) [Fig. 27, p. 63]. 



Doryrhamphus excisus Kaup '), Cat. Lophobr. Fish 1856, p. 51 (pro parte). 

 Syngjiathns melanopietij-a Bleeker, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. XV. 1858, p. 464. 

 Do7-yra?nphus melanopleura Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Neerl. VIII. i860, Achtste 



Bijdr. vischfauna Sumatra, p. 72. 

 Dorykhthys excisus Peters, Monatsber. Akad. Berlin 1876, p. 447 (nee Dory- 

 rhamphus excisus Kaup sensu Duncker). 

 Doryichthys pleurotac}iia Giinther, Rep. Voy. Challenger, Shore fishes, 1880, p. 62. 

 Doryrhamphus pleuroiaeuia Jordan & Evermann, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. XXIII. 



(1903) 1905, p. 121. 

 Microphis pleurotaenia Jordan & Seale, Bull. Bureau Fisheries XXV (1905) 



1906, p. 214. 

 Doryrhamphus pleurotaenia Steindachner, Silzber. Akad. Wien Bd. CXV. 1906, 



p. 1419. 

 Doryichthys pleurotaenia Giinther, Fische d. Siidsee, 1910, p. 434. 

 Microphis extensus Snyder, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. Wash. XL. 191 1, p. 525. — 



I.e. vol. XLII. 1912, p. 495. 

 Doryrhamphus excisus Max Weber, Siboga-Expeditic, Fische, 1913, p. 117. 

 Doryrhamphus melanopleura Duncker, Mitt. a. d. naturh. Mus. Hamburg XXXII. 



1915, p. 61. 



D. 21—25; A. 4; p. 19—22; C. 10; Rings 16—18 + 13 — 15; 

 subdorsal rings 4 — 6 -f- 2 — 4. 



Shields transversally striated; their edges, especially those 

 of the tail, posteriorly ending in a spine. Operculum divided 



i) We agree with the opinion of Duncker, that the name D. excisus Kaup 

 ought to be reserved for the species known from the Red Sea. Kaup mentions in 

 his first paper (Arch. f. Naturgesch. XXI. i, 1853, p. 233) only the Red Sea 

 as locality. The specimens, which he quotes, belong to the Museum of Berlin 

 and Paris. Those of the Berlin Museum were collected by Hempricii and 

 EnRENBERG and belong to D. excisus Kaup emend. Duncker. This is also the 

 case with the specimens from the Paris Museum, which were afterwards descril)ed 

 by DuMeril. 



