PARAPOCRYPTES 261 



In alcohol the green, blue, and red disappear, leaving the 

 general color as in life but paler; the dorsal spines and rays 

 are lightly crossbarred by dark spots; the lower half of the 

 pectoral is crossbarred by pale and dark spots; the membrane 

 of the ventrals, anal, and lower half of the caudal blackish. 



Here described from four specimens obtained from the Manila 

 market, varying in length from 72 to 86 millimeters. 



I also refer here fourteen specimens, 49 to 78 millimeters 

 long, from Navalas, Guimaras Island, and four from Capiz, 

 Panay. 



Viridis, green. 



Genus 50. PARAPOCRYPTES Bleeker 



Parapocryptes BLEEKER, Arch. Neerl. Sci. Nat. 9 (1874) 327. 



The upper jaw has a single row of sharp-pointed, curved teeth, 

 some of them more or less caniniform, or it may have at the 

 center four enlarged, stout teeth, with a long row of small, sharp- 

 pointed teeth running back on each side; in the lower jaw is a 

 single row of small, slender, outward-inclined teeth, which may 

 terminate in one or two larger, almost caninelike teeth; behind 

 symphysis is a pair of canines; all teeth have entire tips; the 

 elongate body covered with small scales, much larger posteriorly, 

 65 to 75 in a longitudinal series, the body and head naked before 

 first dorsal, or the scales extending forward to eyes and over 

 opercles, where they are minute ; the first dorsal has six flexible 

 spines and is placed some distance before the long second dorsal, 

 which has from 12 to 30 rays ; the anal long, with 13 to 26 rays ; 

 the ventral fins are attached only at their bases ; no silky pectoral 

 rays; the caudal lanceolate; gill openings as wide as pectoral 

 base, the isthmus rather broad ; branchiostegals 4. 



Species few, occurring in estuaries and the tidal reaches of 

 rivers along the coasts of Asia from India to China, and in the 

 East Indies. 



This genus, as here limited, may be divided into two sections. 

 Paeneapocryptes is distinguished by the small number of dorsal 

 and anal rays, and by the naked head, nape, and adjacent parts. 

 True Apocryptes may be limited to those having more than 20 

 rays in the dorsal and anal fins. 



Key to the China Sea and Philippine species of Parapocryptes. 



a 1 . Paeneapocryptes: Dorsal VI, 1-12; anal I, 13 P. mindanensis. 



a 2 . Parapocryptes: Dorsal VI, 1-25 to 30; anal I, 26 to 29.... P. serperaster. 



