344 SPINE-FINNED GROUP. 



a tube-like form, on account of the habits of one of its two Indian species (Chelmon 

 rostratus). Of this fish, which has four dark bands on the head and body, and 

 an eye-spot on the soft dorsal fin, J. A. Schlosser wrote many years ago that it 

 frequented the shores and sides of the sea and rivers in search of food, and that 

 when it detected an insect perched on a plant it swam to within a distance of from 

 four to six feet, and then with surprising dexterity ejected out of its tubular mouth 

 a single drop of water, which never failed to strike the object aimed at into the 

 water, where it was immediately seized by the fish. Some of these fish kept in 

 tubs of water were seen to exercise their shooting powers even under these some- 

 what unfavourable circumstances. Somewhat later a Mr. Mitchell observed the 

 same action in some of these fish kept in a pond near Batavia about the year 1828. 

 Curiously enough, in spite of these circumstantial statements, this capacity for 

 ejecting water was transferred to a short-snouted member of the present family, 

 which received its name of Toxotes from this presumed power. Bleeker states, 

 however, that when in Batavia he never witnessed this act, which is one the 

 mouths of these fishes would appear quite incapable of performing. 



The fish (Heniochus macrolepidotus) numbered 4 in the illus- 

 tration on p. 342, is a common Indo- Pacific member of a genus 

 differing from Chcetodon by the more or less marked elongation of the fourth spine 

 of the dorsal fin, which in the figured species assumes the form of a whip-lash. 

 Broad dark bands across the body are very characteristic of the genus ; and in 

 the young the head is armed with numerous horn - like processes, which are 

 permanently retained in a species named H. varius. 



The two large fishes shown in the illustration, swimming towards 

 Holacanthus. , ° .... . 



the left, belong to a genus distinguished from all the foregoing by the 



presence of a large spine on the hinder-edge of the preopercular bone ; the dorsal 

 fin having from twelve to fifteen spines. The genus includes some forty species, 

 with the same range as the typical representative of the family. The splendidly- 

 coloured emperor-fish (H. imperator), shown on the right side of the illustration, 

 ranges from the east coast of Africa to the Indian and Malayan seas, and has the 

 ground-colour of the body a deep blue, upon which are some thirty longitudinal 

 golden-yellow stripes. The eye-stripe and a patch above the pectoral fin are black 

 edged with yellow ; and the tail-fin is uniformly yellow. This species, which 

 attains a length of 15 inches, is extensively used in India for food. Beautiful as it 

 is, it is exceeded by the Indo-Malayan zebra-fish (H. diacanthus). In this species 

 the general colour is yellowish, with from eight to twelve vertical brown-edged 

 blue bands; the caudal fin is yellow, and the anal marked with bluish lines running 

 parallel to its margin. The genus Scatophagies may be given as an example of a 

 group in which the spinous portion of the dorsal fin is devoid of scales and separ- 

 ated by a deep notch from the soft part, so that there are practically two dorsals. 

 The above-mentioned Toxotes, on the other hand, constitutes a group by itself, 

 in which there are teeth on the palatines and vomers, and the body is oblong- 

 and much less deep than in the typical forms, with the undivided and five- 

 spined dorsal fin situated in its hinder-half. It is represented by three species, 

 ranging from the Red Sea to the seas and estuaries of India, Malayana, and 

 Polynesia. 



