i6o 



deeply forked. Silvery, back brownish. A faint indication of 

 lateral narrow violet band. Tips of ventrals, pectorals, and 

 posterior part of dorsal and anal black. Length "jd mm. 

 Habitat: Timor!; between Gebe and Fan!. — Pelagic. 



Fig. 57. Hemiramphus spec. juv. 



Head of a young specimen with black dermal 



appendages on the chin. 



Note. We have three specimens of this species, two of 

 which have already been described by one of us from material 

 of the Siboga Expedition, and one from the anchorage of 

 Kupang, Timor, collected at night by the late Dr. v. D. Sande. 

 It is possible that they represent only a young stage of an 



unknown species and 

 that the form of the 

 dorsal f. i. will change 

 afterwards, as is the 

 case in H. marginatiis; 

 but the fact that we 

 did not find such a 

 form among the very 

 extensive material of 

 Hemirhampliiis from 

 the indo-australian Ar- 

 chipelago at our disposition, makes this supposition improbable. 

 The great length of the pectoral and the convex interorbital 

 space distinguish it from all species known to us, even from 

 their young stages. Perhaps it is nearest to Hemirhainphiis 

 cuspidatus C.V. (Hist. Nat. Poissons XIX. 1846, p. 56), only 

 imperfectly known from the description of the french authors. 

 This species has also a long pectoral, short intermaxillaries 

 and — according to the figure — a convex interorbital space 

 and a dorsal, the upperborder of which is not concave. It 

 has however a much shorter lower jaw ('/i^ of the total) and 

 other fin formulae: D. 18, A. 12. 



Gill (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philadelphia, 1 863, p. 273) separated 

 the lastnamed species from HeniirliauipJins and created the genus 

 Oxyporhamphus for it. We think it better for the moment to 

 keep our species under Hemir/taiiiphns, although it stands 

 somewhat apart in this genus, as the genus Oxyporhamphus 

 is still so imperfectly known. The fish described by Seale 

 from the Philippines as OxyporJimtiphiis brevis (Philippine 

 Journ. of Science IV. 1909, p. 495) is quite different and 

 belongs to the genus ArrJianiphus (see p. 171). 



