1888.] MR. F. DAY ON THE FISHES OF INDIA. 2.59 



third to the last is not carried out in a similar manner in all speci- 

 mens. 



The specimen of S. striolatus is stuffed, and the ends of the 3rd, 

 4th, and 10th dorsal spines are broken; the 3rd and 4th are said to 

 be the longest and one third the length of the head, thus differing 

 from S. altivelis : the last dorsal spine is rather more than half tlie 

 length of the longest ray (i:^)- The soft portions of the dorsal arid 

 anal fins are similar to S. altivelis and (S. gilbosus ; the pectoral is 

 shorter than in 8. gibbosus, which is nearly as long as in -S. altivelis. 



The specimen of Serranus gibbosus is of very similar form to the 

 foregoing, which may be owing to having been preserved in strong 

 spirit instead of being a skin ; its third dorsal spine is nearly as long 

 as the longest ray, but its last spine is broken. The length of its 

 head (from the end of the snout to the end of the opercular spines) 

 is 4 5 in that of the total length. The colours are between the two 

 others ; its spots are larger in size than in S. striolatus, but having a 

 similar tendency to form about 15 irregular rows along either side of 

 the body. 



I think the Zanzibar and Muscat fishes are merely separated from 

 one another by their colours, and that their form diifers from C. alti- 

 velis in the shorter lengths of their dorsal spines. This fish does 

 not apjiear to extend to the Red Sea ; consequently if S. striolatus 

 and S. gibbosus are varieties of S. altivelis, they are found in the 

 extreme limits at which this species extends to the west. Without, 

 therefore, absolutely holding them to be identical, I think that 

 when a larger number of specimens have been obtained they will 

 probably only be ranked as varieties. 



Serranus diacanthus, Cuv. & Val. 



Epinephelus retouti, Bleeker, Fish. Madagascar, p. 21, pi. xii. f. 1. 



Serranus latifasciatus, Schlegel. 



Serranus grammicus. Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 186/, p. 700. 



Since my description of this fish was published, I have seen 

 Schlegel's types in the Leyden Museum, and they undoubtedly 

 belong to this species. 



Serranus morrhua, Cuv. & Val. 



Serranus prcEopercularis, Boulenger, I. c. p. 654. 



As I have already given an account of the colours of this fish, I 

 will merely remark that the young have sinuous white bands, but as 

 the fish becomes older it assumes a brown colour, with narrow black 

 lines, which were the original borders of the white bands. In the 

 Paris Museum is a young specimen having dark spots along the lines 

 which bound the white bands. In Klunzinger's figure (Fisch. Roth. 

 Meeres., t. i. f. 2), three brown lines radiate from the eye and become 

 four curved ones on the body, the first going to the 8th dorsal spine, 

 the second to the 5th ray, while between these are blotches, spots, or 

 markings of the same colour. The fifth dorsal spine is shown the 

 longest. 



