140 CLASS XIV. 



ft Pungent rays in anal fin seven. Scales distinct, small or 

 moderate, with posterior margin entire (cycloid). 



Amphacanthus BL., (Seganus Fc-RSK. Centrogaster HoiJTT 1 ). 

 Teeth small, in a single row in both jaws, emarginate at the apex 

 or cuspidate. Ventral fins with two rays, external and internal, 

 pungent, with three soft rays interposed. Tail unarmed. 



Fishes from the eastern hemisphere which are distinguished, like 

 Etroplus (see above, p. 130) and the genera Centrarchus Cuv. and 

 PolyacantJius V. HASS., by the numerous spinous rays of the anal fin; 

 more characteristic still is the furnishing of the ventral fins with a spinous 

 ray on the inside, a peculiarity which occurs in no other genus of fishes. 

 The styliform bone of the belt of the pectoral fins, which is regarded 

 as a coracoid bone (see above, p. 1 7), is strongly developed, and extends 

 in an arch backwards to attach itself to the first inter-spinal bone of the 

 anal fin 3 . A species from the Red Sea (Amphacanthus luridus EHRENB. or 

 Amphacanthus siganus RUEPP. ?) is named by the Arabs Sidjan, from which 

 the generic name Siganus is borrowed. 



Sp. Amphacanthus javus Cuv., Teuthis javus L., Hepatus GRONOV. Zoophyl. 

 I. Tab. 8, fig. 4 ; on the back dark-coloured, greenish, below grey, with 

 yellow- white round spots on the back, which on the sides pass into elongated 

 spots, and downwards into stripes; Amphacanthus guttatus BL., SCHN., 

 BLOCH Ichth. 196 ; Amphacanthus corattinus Cuv., VAL. Verh. over de not. 

 Gesch. der Nederl. Bezittingen, Pise. Tab. 2. fig. 2, Dictionn. univ. d'Hist. 

 not. Poiss. PI. u, fig. i; Amphac. marmoratus QUOT et GAIM. Voy. de 

 VUranie, PI. 62, Diet, class. d'Hist. nat. PI. 108, &c. 



Family XXXIII. Halilatrachi s. Chironectce. Bones of car- 

 pus elongate, forming a pedicle, sustaining pectoral fins. Body 

 mostly scaleless, with head large. Ventral fins jugular. Branchiae 

 only three complete, with last arch naked or branchiferous on the 

 anterior margin alone. Rays of branchiostegous membrane six. 



Chironectes Cuv. (Antennarius CoMMERS.). Body compressed, 

 naked. Three branchiae with semibranchia. Branchial aperture 

 narrow, rotund, behind pectoral fin. Three spinous rays above head, 

 separate from dorsal fin, the dorsal supported by soft rays, com- 

 mencing in back in front of anal fin, long. 



1 M. HOUTTUYN described a couple of species of this genus under the name of 

 Centrogaster; Verhand. van de Holl. Maatsch. der Wetensch. te Haarlem, xx. Dl. 

 ze Stuk, 1782, pp. 332334. 



a GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE Anat. philos. I. p. 471, PI. ix. fig. 108. 



