Remarks on Fishes. 149 



supposed to be an Atherina, and which he described as 

 Atherina danius in the Gangetic Fishes, page 222, leaving 

 a drawing of it with his collection at the Botanic Garden. 



The Chanda of Buchanan are so well marked, that they 

 are distinguished as a group by the natives. Buchanan des- 

 cribes them as possessed of sharp teeth in both jaws, with 

 some of the bones of the head distinctly indented on the 

 edge ; with prickles in some of the fins ; and with the body 

 more or less diaphanous and much compressed, the sides 

 being nearly perpendicular. Cuvier, in the Histoire Natu- 

 relle des Poissons, makes a species of this group which was 

 found by Commerson in the Isle of Bourbon the type of a 

 new genus, to which he gave the name Ambassis. The 

 genus is placed by Cuvier among the Percoides, and is dis- 

 tinguished by a ' short, compressed, and transparent body 

 covered with large thin scales which are easily detached ; 

 protractile jaws, fine crowded teeth, a double serrated mar- 

 gin to the preoperculum, the post operculum terminating in 

 a point. These parts we have represented as they occur 

 in one of the species partially defined by Buchanan, figs 1, 

 2, plate V. 



They are distinguished from the Surmullets whose opercula 

 are also dentated, by their dorsals being placed close to- 

 gether. 



Cuvier remarks that one of the species, Ambassis commer- 

 sonia, is highly esteemed in the Isle of France, where a lucra- 

 tive trade is carried on by the fishermen, who prepare it after 

 the manner of anchovies. The same species he remarks is 

 common at Pondicherry, from which M. Lechenault sent 

 numerous specimens to France, also on the Malabar coast, 

 from which Cuvier also received specimens. Also on the 

 coasts of Java, from whence numerous specimens have been 

 sent to the Royal Museum in Holland. 



The Bengal species are numerous, but they require to be 

 investigated, particularly as Buchanan's characters are not 



