2? ELEOTRIS 29 



The body compressed, rather stout, the depth 2.9 to 3.2 in 

 the length; the head elongate, with convex upper and lower 

 profiles, and contained 3.5 times in length; the eyes of moderate 

 size, 10 times in the length or 2f times in head, and close 

 together, interorbital space 1.75 times in eye; the snout blunt, 

 shorter than eye, 3 times in head; the caudal peduncle broad, 

 its least depth 5| to 6 times in the length; the third dorsal 

 spine threadlike and excessively elongated, from to more than 

 | as long as head and body together, and in one specimen ex- 

 tending to posterior margin of caudal; the other spines all 

 flexible, not elongated, second and fourth about the same length, 

 the others, much shorter ; the second dorsal and anal approx- 

 imately equal in length and height, the last ray longest, those 

 of anal reaching well on to caudal, which is shorter than head. 



This beautiful little eleotrid, which never reaches a length 

 of more than 50 millimeters, is highly ornamented in life. The 

 body is marked by large, irregular, blackish brown crossbands 

 or blotches, or lengthwise rows, while each scale is marked by 

 a small, circular, purplish blue spot of diamondlike brilliancy; 

 the dorsals, anal, and caudal are pale brown with fine blue dots ; 

 sometimes the region between the pectorals and the first dorsal 

 is thickly sprinkled with small blue dots. 



Alcoholic specimens are pale brown with darker mottlings 

 and crossbars, and blackish to pale fins; the blue dots on the 

 scales are more or less visible. 



Here described from sixteen specimens, ranging in length 

 from 25 to 35 millimeters, or about 42 millimeters over all for 

 the largest one. They were obtained at Sitankai ; Caldera Bay 

 near Zamboanga ; and Samal Island in the Gulf of Davao. 



Originally described from the Red Sea, this species occurs 

 throughout the tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans ; 

 it has been obtained at the Seychelles, the Cocos Islands, Port 

 Bowen in North Australia, and the Samoan, Society, Pelew, 

 and Hawaiian Islands. 



Genus 3. ELEOTRIS (Gronow) Bloch and Schneider 



Eleotris GRONOW, Zooph. (1763) 83. 



Eleotris BIX)CH and SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichthy. (1801) 65. 



Cvlius BLEEKER, Esq. Syst. Nat. Gobioides, Arch. Neerl. 9 (1874) 303. 



The body thick, robust, little elevated, cylindrical anteriorly, 

 compressed behind ; head flattened above, smooth, almost every- 

 where scaly; at lower angle of preopercle is a small, down- 



