FAMILY, I— PERCID^. 19 



Sabitat. — Malabar to 3 feet in. lengtli. I have not seen tkis species tiat I am aware of, unless it is a 

 Luticmus. It may probably be Russell's Bcmgoo. 



16. Serranus Malabaricus, Plate IV, fig. 2. 



Holocentrus Malabaricus, Bl. Scbn. p. 319, pi. 63. 



Solocentrus pcmtherirms, Lacep. Poiss. iii, t. 27, f. 3 andiv, pp. 389 and 392. 



Peixa hontoo and P. madirmwa bontoo, Russell, Fist. Vizag. ii, pp. 20, 21, pi. 127 and 128. 



Sola ? coioides. Ham. Buch. Fisb. Ganges, pp. 82, 369. 



SerramMS bontoo, Cuv. and Val. ii, pp. 334, vi, p. 523 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 11 ; Giintber, Catal. i, p. 138 ; Day, 

 Fisb. Malabar, p. 3. 



Berramus suilVus, Cuv. and Val. ii, p. 335 ; Bleeker, Verb. Bat. Gen. xxii, p. 9 ; Giintber, Catal. i, p. 127 j 

 Playfair," Fisb. Zanz. p. 5. 



SerroMMS maculosus et panihermus, Cuv. and Val. ii, pp. 332 and 333. 



Serromus craipao, Cuv. and Val. iii, p. 494 ; Ricb. An. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 1842, ix, p. 25 ; Bleeker, Verb. 

 Bat. Gen. xxii, Perc. p. 37 ; Giintber, Catal. i, p. 137. 



SerramMS diacopeformis, Benn. Life Raffles, Fisb. Sumatra, p. 686. 



Serromus nebulosus et sohihpcm,, Ricbards. Icb. China, pp. 231, 232. 



Serrarms coioides, Cantor, Catal. p. 11. 



Hpinephelus cra/pao, Bleeker, Atl. Icb. Perc. t. viii, f. 1. 



Epi/neplielus pa/ntherinus, Bleeker, Epinepbelini, p. 78. 



Purmi-caloMiah, Tarn. : Bontoo, Tel. : Bool, Ohittagong : Nga-towhtoo, Arrak. : Kyouk-theyga-kahadit, Burm. : 

 Bdb-na-dah and 0-ro-tamh-dah, Andamanese. 



Variety, S. bontoo, Madincmoah bontoo, Tel. : Bow-je-dah, Andam. 



B. vii, D. ii-=TT, P- 19. "^^ 1/5, A. J^-, C. 15, L. 1. 9(}, L. r. VV', L- tr. 19/60, Csec. pyl. 60-60. 

 Length of bead 3^ to 3f , of caudal 1/5 to 1/6, height of body 2/7 to' 1/4 of the total length. jEyes — 

 diameter 1/5 to 1/6 of length of head, 1 to 1| diameters from the end of snout, and the same apart. Interorbital 

 space flat : the preemaxillary reaching to opposite the front edges of the orbit. The maxilla extends to below 

 tbe posterior edges of the orbit, or even behind it in large specimens. Vertical limb of preopercle slightly 

 emarginate, finely serrated, becoming more coarsely so at its rather square angle, where there exist from four to 

 seven coarse teeth, its lower margin entire, as are also the sub- and inter-opercles, occasionally there are two or 

 three serrations on the inter-opercle. Opercle with three spines, tbe central one being tbe longest. Tbe fry has 

 no spine at tbe angle of tbe preopercle. Teeth — one or two canines in either jaw, those in the upper usually tbe 

 Ipnger : the outer row of teeth in tbe upper jaw, and the inner in the lower, are the largest. Fins — ^tbe dorsal 

 spines from the third are of about the same height, and equal to one-half the length of the post-orbital portion 

 of the head, but not so high as tbe rays : tbe pectoral is longer than tbe ventral, and about equal tbe post-orbital 

 portion of tbe bead in length, soft portions of dorsal and anal fins rounded : tbe second anal spine in most estuary 

 specimens equal the length of tbe third, but in marine ones it is often slightly shorter : caudal rounded. Scales — 

 ctenoid, and in about 15 rows between tbe 6tb dorsal spine and tbe lateral line. Gcecal pylori — ^from 60 to 60, 

 but two or more open into a single basal tube. Colours — ^brownish, fading to grey or dirty white on the a,bdomen : 

 the whole of tbe fish, even over to the branchiostegal rays covered with bright yellow or orange spots, which often 

 become brown after death : three large blotches on the inter-opercle appear to be present in all varieties of this 

 fish. In the S. Malabaricus Blocb, some brown spots are often during life intermingled with tbe orange ones, 

 and it is vertically banded usually as follows ; one passes from tbe first four dorsal spines to the pectoral fin : 

 another from between the second and ninth to tbe abdomen : two more descend from tbe soft dorsal fin, and a 

 fifth encircles tbe free portion of the tail : pectoral reddish spotted with yellow, sometimes the caudal, pectoral 

 and ventral fins are unspotted but marked with darker shades, or the bands are continued on to them. This 

 variety is tbe commonest, mostly marine, and the bands are unusually well marked in tbe young. In tbe variety 

 S. bontoo, the bands when present bifurcate inferiorly, and the spots are aU black ; this is a marine and the 

 rarest form, never appearing to attain to a large size. In tbe variety S. coioides, H. B. = 8. sidllus, C. V. 

 the bands are absent, or else indistinctly visible ; this is mostly taken in estuaries or large rivers, as tbe Hooghly 

 at Calcutta. 



Russell observed thai the plate 128 {8. bontoo') Toaj perhaps "be merely a variety" of plate 127 

 (S. coioides). Hamilton Buchanan, p. 82, remarked of bis coioides, " this fish agrees so well with the description 

 of the medinawa bontoo of Dn Russell (Indian Fishes, vol. ii, noi 128) that I do not think them difierent 

 species," p. 82. Cuvier considered Russell's species distinct : Playfair, " Fishes of Zanzibar," doubted if they 

 might not be identicaL 



Russell records one taken at Vizagapatam in January 1786, which measured 7 feet ia length, 5 in girth, 

 and weighed upwards of three hundred pounds. Amongst Sir Walter EUiot's drawings is a figure of tbe banded 

 variety 8. Malaha/ricns, marked Serrarms suillus and Kidlawaee : a foot and a half ia length is given as the size of 

 tbe specimen. 



Tbe fisb figured, pi. iv, fig. 2, is the variety coioides, the specimen beiug about 21 inches in length, and 

 taken at Calcutta. 



In one specimen of tbe variety S. bontoo 8^ inches long, not only has- it 12 dorsal spines, but the sixth 

 has also two separate spinate terminations. 



Habitat. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago, China, and beyond, attaining to a very large size. 



c 2 



