KUHLIA.— POLTCENTEOPSIS. 99 



anterior soft rays ; tenth spine not or but very slightly longer than ninth. 

 Anal III 12-13, longer than its distance from caudal. Pectoral f length 

 of head. Caudal deeply forked, middle rays not more than f length of 

 outer. Scales 52-55 j^^fy. Silvery, bluish grey on the back; caudal 

 black-edged and with an angular blackish band within the border. 



Total length 190 millim. 



Madagascar, Mascare'ne Islands, Society Islands, and probably other 

 islands in the South Pacitic. — Type believed to be lost. 



Family 2. NANDID.^. 



Perciform fishes Avith the suborbitals not produced into a subocular 

 lamina, with teeth on the palate, no entopterygoid, separate lower 

 pharyngeal bones, gill-membranes free from isthmus, 6 branchiostegal 

 rays, and two nostrils on each side. S{)inous dorsal well developed ; 

 soft portion of dorsal not more developed than anal ; latter with 

 3 or more spines. Prsecaudal vertebrae with transverse processes 

 from the seventh or eighth; ribs mostly sessile, behind the transverse 

 processes. 



Fresh waters of West Africa, South-Eastern Asia, and South America. 



1. POLYCENTROPSIS. 



Bouleng. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1901, i. p. 8. 



Body short, elevated, very strongly compressed; scales moderately 

 large, ciliated ; lateral line incomplete, reduced to a few tubes. Mouth 

 large, extremely protractile, the ascending processes of the prae- 

 maxillaries extremely long and extending to the occipital region ; 

 villiform bands of very small teeth in the jaws, on the vomer, and on the 

 palatines ; anterior nostril tubular ; head for the greater part covered 

 with scales; praeorbital, praeoperculum, and interoperculum serrated; 

 operculum ending in a spine. No pseudobranchiae. Dorsal and anal 

 fins nearly equally developed, with scaly sheath at the base, the former 

 with 15 to 17, the latter with 9 to 12 strong spines, the soft portion much 

 reduced. Ventrals below the pectorals, close together, with a strong 

 spine. Vertebrae 23 (lO-f-13). 



West Africa. 



