1889.] FISHES FROM MUSCAT. 24.5 



DiAGRAMMA JAYAKARI. 



Having received a second specimen, a skin 22 inches long, from 

 Muscat, agreeing in colour with the specimen so named by me, but 

 with D. i-^, I provisionally accept Mr. Day's opinion that D. jaya- 

 kari is a colour-variety of J), griseum. According to Mr. Jayakar's 

 notes the body, when fresh, is of a pale white colour, with yellow 

 spots. Length of the longest spine " seven eighths " the depth of 

 the body, in my diagnosis, is a lapsus for "two sevenths." 



Aphareus rutilans, C. & V. 



My notes on this fish were, by an oversight, taken from a specimen 

 of Pagellus affinis^ although the true A. rutilans was actually 

 included in Mr. Jayakar's first collection. 



Paguus ruber. 



On examination of a large series of specimens, 1 now consider this 

 supposed new species to be identical with P. spini/er, as suggested 

 by Mr. Day. 



Caranx jayakari. (Plate XXVI.) 



Mr. Day makes this a synonym of CI. nigrescens. I have never 

 seen an example of the latter, but if the figure in the ' Fishes of 

 India' is to be relied upon, the two appear to be distinct. It is to 

 be remarked that Mr. Day describes his 6'. nigrescens as having the 

 " fins nearly black, especially the dorsal," whilst the specimens of 

 C. jayakari before me, now three in number, have the fins devoid 

 of black pigment. In C. jayakari the anterior rays of the anal 

 measure nearly three fourths the length of the base of the same fin. 

 The type specimen is figured on the Plate. 



Umbrina striata. 



On comparison of the type with the figure of U. sinuata. Day, a 

 species founded upon quite young specimens, I find the following 

 differences, which do not seem to be ascribable to age : — The origin 

 of the spinous dorsal (alls in advance of the base of the pectoral in 

 U. sinuata, above the axil in U. striata ; in the latter species there are 

 not nine sinuous dark bands on the body, while in TJ. sinuata there 

 are as many as there are series of scales ; besides the direction of these 

 bands is not the same in the two fishes — since, for instance, the band 

 originating above the base of the pectoral extends to the 8th and 

 9th ravs of the soft dorsal in U. sinuata, to the 16th and 1 7th in 

 U. striata. 



Trigla arabica. (Plate XXVII.) 



This species has been considered identical with T. polysticta by 

 Mr, Day, who states, I know not on what authority, that the " bony 

 plate along the base of the dorsal fin " is wider in small than in 

 large examples. This view is clearly erroneous, from the fact that 

 the dermo-ossifications in question are absolutely more developed in 

 T. arabica than in the larger T. polysticta, as may be seen by the figure 



Pboc. Zool. Soc— 1889, No. XVII. 17 



