COLLECTED IX DUTCH NEW GUIjN^EA. 279 



Spinous dorsal \vitli all tlie I'aj's slender and flexible 2. Rhadinocentms. 



B. Scales smaller, irregular, with edges deeply creuulated .... 3. Glossolejns. 



II. Lower jaw included ; mouth rather small, its cleft straight or but 



little curved ; lower jaw with an outer series of enlarged teeth. 



A. An interspace between inner band and outer series of teeth of lower 



jaw; no teeth, or but few, on outer side of upper jaw 4. Anisocentrus. 



B. No interspace between inner band and outer series of teeth in lower 



jaw ; many teeth on outer side of upper jaw. 

 Spinous dorsal with first spine pungent, the rest flexible ; vomer toothed . 5. Chilatherina. 

 Spinous dorsal with all the spines pungent ; palate toothless 6. Ceiitratherina. 



III. Lower jaw included ; mouth larger, its cleft curved or angular, 

 horizontal anteriorly and oblique posterioidy ; bands of teeth ex- 

 tending on to outside of jaws ; no outer series of enlarged teeth . . 7. Rhombosoma. 



1. MELANOTJilNIA Gill, 1862. 

 Proc. Acad. Philad. p. 280 ; Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, xxi. 1896, p. 130 ; 



M. Weber, Nova Guinea, v. 1907, p. 238. 

 Nemaiocentris Peters, Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1866, p. 516. 

 Strabo Kner & Steind. Sitzungsb. Akad. Wien, liv. 1866, p. 372. 

 Zantecla Casteln. Pi-oc. Zool. Soc. Victoria, ii. 1873, p. 88. 

 Aida Castelu. Research. Fish. Austral, p. 10 (1875). 

 Neoatherina Casteln, /. c. p. 31. 



Aristeus Casteln, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iii. 1878, p. 141. 

 Rhombatractus Gill, Amer. Nat. 1894, p. 709. 



Body compressed ; scales large, regularly arranged, with edges eutii'e or slightly 

 creuulated. Mouth terminal, with the jaws equal anteriorly; anterior expansion ot 

 praemaxillaries fitting an emargination in the lower jaw; teeth in jaws conical or 

 villiform, in bands, with the outer series enlarged ; no teeth outside the mouth ; a 

 transverse band of teeth across head of vomer, a few teeth posteriorly on palatines, and 

 a patch at base of tongue. Gill-rakers moderate, 12 to 16 on lower part of anterior 

 arch. Spinous dorsal of one pungent and 4 to 6 flexible spines ; soft dorsal of a spine 

 and 9 to 12 branched rays ; anal of a spine and 16 to 22 branched rays. Caudal 

 emarginate. 



A single species. 



MELANOTiENIA NIGRANS. 



Atherina nigrans Richards, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. xi. 1843, p. 180. 



Athei'inicJithys nigrans Giinth. Cat. Fish. lii. p. 406 (1861). 



Nematoce?itris sjjlendida Peters, Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1866, p. 516. 



Strabo nigrofasciat us Kner u. Steind. Sitzungsb. Akad. Wien, liv. 1866, pp. 373, 395, pi. iii. 



fig. 10. 

 Zantecla pusilla Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Victoria, ii. 1873, p. 88. 

 Aida inornata Casteln. Research Fish. Austral, p. 10 (1875). 



