716 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [ Vol. V, 



1802. Centropomus ambassis, Lacépède, Hist. Nat. Poiss. IV, p. 273. 



1828. Ambassis commersonii, Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. II, p. 176, pi. xxv. 



1837. Ambassis commersonii, Eüppell, Neu. wirbel. Fisch., p. 89. 



1849. Ambassis commersonii, Bleeker, Verh. Batav. Gen. XXII, p. 30. 



1849. Ambassis macr acanthus, id., ibid., p. 30. 



1859. Ambasssis commersonii, Günther, Gat. Fish. Brit. Mus. I, p. 223. 



1859. Ambassis macracanthus, id., ibid., p. 227. 



1865. Ambassis commersonii, Day, Fish. Malabar, p. 15. 



1866. Ambassis productus, Ghiichenot, Mém. Soc. Sei. Cherbourg XII, p. 130. 

 1868. Ambassis commersonii, Peters, Reis. Mossamb. IV, p. 10. 



1870. Ambassis macracanthus, Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 681. 



1875. Ambassis commersonii, id., Fish. Ind., p. 52, pi. xv, fig. 3. 



1877. Ambassis commersonii, Bleeker, Ail. Ichthyol. Ind. Orient. Néerl. VIII, pp. 133 and 136. 



1889. Ambassis commersonii, Day, Faun. Brit. Ind. Fish. I, 488. 



1905. Ambassis ambassis, Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. Philadelphia LVII, p. 500. 



1915. Ambassis commersonii, Boulenger, Brit. Mus. Cat. Freshw. Fish. Africain, p. 112, fig. 85. 



1916. Ambassis ambassis, Sundara Raj, Pec. Ind. Mus., XII, p. 279. 



1916. Ambassis commersonii, Boulenger, Brit. Mus. Cat. Freshw. Fish. Africa, IV, p. 326, 



There are only two specimens in the collection, both secured from a fisherman at 

 Kalupara Ghat on 7th April 1914; these are 54-6 and 64-5 mm. in length. 



Distribution. — East coast of Africa, shores of India and the Malay Archipelago, 

 North coast of Australia. The species ascends rivers and estuaries. 



Genus PRIOPIS 1 Kuhl and van Hasselt. 



Priopis gymnocephalus (Lacépède). 



1802. Lutjanus gymnocephalus, Lacépède, Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, p. 479, pi. xxiii, fig. 3 and IV, 



p. 216. 

 1828. Ambassis dussumieri, Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. II, p. 181. 

 1831. Lutjanus gymnocephalus, Lacépède and Desmarest, Hist. Nat. Poiss. V, p. 108. 

 1834. Ambassis dussumieri, Quoy and Gainiard; Toy. "Astrolabe' 1 '' Poiss. Ill, p. 645, pi. i, fig. 3. 

 1845. Ambassis dussumieri, Bleeker, Nat. Geneesh. Arch. Ned. Ind., II, p. 520. 

 1849. Chanda dussumieri, Cantor, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, p. 988. 

 1849. Chanda gymnocephala, id., ibid., p. 989. 



1859. Ambassis dussumieri, Günther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. I, p. 225. 

 1865. Ambassis dussumieri, Day, Fish. Malabar, p. 16. 



doubtful species (viz., C. setifer and C. ruconius.) in his genus Chanda was that the name was a common local appellation 

 for all the species he included. A very curious mistake may be noted here. In Agassiz's Nomenclator Zoologicus 

 Pisces, p. 15) Hamilton Buchanan's generic name Chanda is stated to have been derived from " the Greek word tcavbot; 

 =hians ! " It is in reality a vernacular name. The word is not derived from the Hindi word Chandi ( =silver), as wrongly 

 supposed by Cantor and Day, but from the Bengali word Chand=moon, from the moon-like rounded shape and the moon- 

 like semitranslucent lustre exhibited by these fishes in their sudden sallies to the surface of the water and quick retreat. 

 1 The genus Priopis, Kuhl and van Hasselt (Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. VI, p. 503) is defined as Chanda 

 with the lateral line interrupted (Jordan and Seale, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. XXVIII, p. 780). 



