1862.] DR. A. GUNTHER ON NEW REPTILES AND FISHES. 191 
the diameter of which is scarcely more than one-third of the length 
of the head. Cleft of the mouth slightly oblique, of moderate width, 
the maxillary extending beyond the front margin of the orbit ; jaws 
equal in length anteriorly. Each turbinal bone with an obtuse spine 
superiorly; preeorbital spine strong ; preeoperculum with five spines, 
the upper of which is the longest; operculum with two ridges; 
spines on the occiput small and obtuse. Head naked, without cu- 
taneous appendages ; vomerine teeth in a narrow angular band. 
The dorsal fin commences immediately behind the occiput, its 
spines are of moderate length and strength; the third to the sixth 
are the longest, half as long as the head; the following decrease in 
length, the last, again, being a little longer than the penultimate ; the 
soft dorsal rather more elevated than the spinous, short, the length 
of its base being contained thrice and a fifth in that of the spinous 
dorsal. Caudal fin scaleless, rounded, contained four times and two- 
thirds in the total length. The anal commences opposite the four- 
teenth dorsal spine; its second spine is the longest, contained twice 
and two-thirds in the length of the head. The pectoral has the rays 
branched, and extends nearly as far backwards as the ventral, which 
is composed of a strong spine and five soft rays; the region round 
the base of the pectoral and ventral fins is naked, covered with soft 
skin. 
The gill-membranes are scarcely united below the throat. There 
is a distinct cleft behind the fourth gill*. 
Length of the specimen, 3 inches. 
CaTOPRA SIAMENSIS. (Pl. XXVI. fig. A.) 
13 3 53 
D. Te" A. 9° L. lat. 27. LL. transv. 73° 
The height of the body is contained twice and a third in the total 
length. Cheek with six series of scales, the lower of which covers 
the preopercular limb. Body with eight dark cross bands; scales 
on the nape with some minute whitish dots; the outer edge of the 
ventral white. 
Siam. 
Description—tThe height of the body is contained twice and a 
third in the total length, the length of the head thrice and a third ; 
head as high as long. Snout rather shorter than the eye, the dia- 
meter of which is one-fourth of the length of the head, and equal to 
the width of the interorbital space. The lower jaw is scarcely longer 
than the upper, and the maxillary extends slightly beyond the ante- 
rior margin of the orbit. Two nostrils remote from each other, both 
very small. Przeorbital and angle of the praeoperculum slightly ser- 
rated ; opercles, throat, and isthmus entirely scaly. The dorsal fin 
commences above the end of the operculum, and terminates close by 
the caudal; its spines are very strong, and can be received in a 
* I have been induced by that circumstance to re-examine C. australis, and 
have found a very small opening behind the fourth gill; so that the presence of 
such a narrow cleft is to be introduced into the diagnosis of the genus Centro- 
pogon (Catal. Fish. ii. p, 128). 
