56 



by KUHL and VAN HASSELT in Java, with the label Syngnathns 

 fluviatilis K. & v. H., written in their time. This specimen) 

 1 86 mm. long, is evidently a Microphis brachyurus Blkr. and 

 therefore quite different from the above named species. 



5. Coelonotus Peters. 



(PETERS, Monatsber. Akad. Berlin, 1855, p. 465. Reise nach 

 Mossambique, Zool. IV. FlussHsche, 1868, p. 106). 



Body round and very slender when young, in the adult 

 female much compressed. The superior cristae only are conspi- 

 cuous, the remaining crisfae rounded, smooth and nearly incon- 

 spicuous. Head without or with very feeble ridges. Superior 

 cristae of trunk and tail discontinuous, subdorsally they run 

 closely and parallel to each other and unite at posterior end 

 of dorsal. Median cristae of trunk and inferior cristae of tail 

 continuous. Intermedial shields (scutella) present as also a 



Fig. 24. Coelonotus liaspis (Blkr.) n. s. 



praenuchal and two nuchal shields. Operculum without keel 

 or with the indication of a keel at its base, but with radial 

 furrows and lines. Snout short, equal to or shorter than post- 

 orbital part of head. Tail longer than head and trunk. Dorsal 

 long, with more than 40 rays, situated above at least 12 rings 

 belonging for their largest part to the tail; anal before middle 

 of length. Pectorals present; caudal well developed or small. 

 Eggs rather large, in isolated cells, formed by the skin of the 

 abdomen and laterally protected by ventrally converging plates, 

 which belong to the lower lateral edges of the trunk, the 

 posterior ends of which are connected by a fold of the skin. 

 Distribution: Living in fresh water of brooks and rivers 

 from East Africa, Madagascar and neighbouring islands through 

 the indo-australian Archipelago to the Philippines, Japan and 

 West-Pacific islands. 



