igiy.] Fauna of the Chilka Lake : Fish. 503 



fin is less than the length of the pectoral fin by nearly one-fifth the length of the 

 latter fin ; the insertion of the ventral fin is almost vertically below the anterior 

 origin of the first dorsal fin ; the distance between the root of the ventral fin and the 

 anterior margin of the anal fin is almost equal to the interval between the anterior 

 roots of the two dorsal fins. The anal opening is in advance of the anterior root of 

 the anal fin. by half the length of the vertical diameter of the eye. The caudal fin is 

 deeply divided, the length of the middle rays is contained three times in the length 

 of the longest outer caudal rays ; the upper caudal lobe is slightly longer than the 

 lower one. 



The scales are small and the head is more or less covered with scales smaller than 

 those on the body. The preorbital, the frontal, and the parietal regions are bare, 

 but the suborbital, the temporal, the occipital, the preopercular and the opercular 

 regions are thickly covered with minute scales. The number of vertical rows of scales 

 on the cheek 'below the eye) is nine and the number of vertical rows on the opercle 

 eighteen. The lateral line is complete ; it runs from the upper edge of the gill-open- 

 ing to the middle point of the base of the caudal fin, consisting of rather large scales 

 perforated by simple tubes ; from the upper corner of the opercular opening the 

 lateral line continues straight along seven scales, then curving a little it slopes below 

 the middle line which it meets traversing forty- three scales ; from this point it continues 

 in a straight line to the root of the caudal fin terminating at the middle point ; the 

 number of perforated scales in the lateral line is one hundred and forty-four. In the 

 transverse lateral series there are eleven rows of scales between the first dorsal fin and 

 the lateral line and twenty-five rows of scales between the lateral line vertically below 

 the anterior origin of the first dorsal fin and the midventral line [i.e. lat. trans, at 

 the first dorsal fin, is 11/25], between the second dorsal fin and the lateral line there 

 are sixteen rows of scales, and between the lateral line at the point in the line directly 

 below the anterior origin of the second dorsal fin and the midventral line there 

 are fifteen rows of vertical scales [i.e. lat. trans, at the second dorsal fin, is 16/15]. 

 The number of lateral rows of scales, between the anterior origin'of the first dorsal 

 fin and the ventral fin of the same side, is thirty-five. 



The colour of the specimens in alcohol is brown above the lateral line, and dull 

 silvery white below that line including the abdomen. The fins are pale brown and, 

 except the ventral fins, the inner margins of the fins are tinted black. The tip of the 

 lower jaw with the fleshy protuberance is coloured black. The upper margins of the 

 rims of the eyes are also black. The roots of the dorsal fins, specially of the second 

 dorsal, are coloured black. On the side of the body there are short and thick but 

 faint oval patches, six or seven in number, along the middle line below the two dorsal 

 fins. These faint marks are only visible in shaded light. The tip of the tongue and 

 the top of the end of the upper jaw are dark. 



The new species differs from all the known Indian species by possessing a very 

 large number of scales in the lateral line as well as in the proportions of the different 

 parts and in the position of the fins. The new fish has a longer head than 5. jellow, 

 S. acutipinnis , S. commersonii and S. obtusata ; it is of lesser height and has smaller 



