FAMILY, I— PEECID^. 7 



Trisiwpomaf OoA'cmx, OsphromemiS, &c., vertical bands are found, as a sign tiat tlie fish is immature. Lateral 

 longitudinal broad bands are jErequently modified, two narrow ones taking tlie place of a single wider one, as seen 

 in Gh&iloddpterus, Biagrwrmna, &o. Likewise in stufied examples, or in those which have been long macerated in 

 epirit, marks which were distinct in the fresh specimen, become more or less obliterated. Lrespective of the 

 foregoing, the period interveniag between capture and examination, has a considerable bearing upon their 

 fugitive colours, as well as whether they have been sodden ia water, or kept dry by their captors : for instance, 

 if a dark coloured fish is placed ia a dry situation, and strips of moist cloth laid over it and kept wet, the portions 

 of -the body which have not been allowed to dry will be found to be of a lighter tint than those not so treated, 

 and this banded appearance which can be so easily produced is indelible. It is by no means uncommon for the 

 caudal fin to be white in the young, but black in the adult as in Biagramma nigrum. 



The foregoing brief remarks on the colours of fishes will explain how it is that the descriptions in this 

 work do not always agree with those of other observers. Such discrepancies indeed often merely mean, that 

 the colours of the same species of fish may difier in dijfferent districts. 



First group — ^Percina. 



Form of body oblong. Opercles strongly denticulated or armed. Cleft of mouth rather oblique. Two 

 dorsal fins : three anal spines. Scales of moderate size. Pyloric appendages few. 



Genus, 1 — Lates, Giw. amd Val. 



Brcmchiostegals seven : psmdohrcmoMcB. Body oblong amd somewhat compressed. Preorbittd, and shoulder 

 hone serrated : preopercle with strong spines at its angle, amd denticulated along its horizontal Iwrih : opercle spmate. 

 Teeth villiform on jams, vomer, and palatine hones, tongue smooth. Two dorsal fins united at their hases, the first 

 loith, seven or eight spines, the amal with three : camdal rounded. Scales finely ctenoid, amd of moderate size. Gcecal 

 pylori few. 



Geographical distribution. Mouths of the Nile : from the coasts of Sind throughout the seas of India to 

 the Malay Archipelago, China, and Australia. 



Uses. Besides being in most places excellent as food, their air-vessels or sounds are dried, and appear in 

 commerce as rough isinglass, much of which is exported from India to China, and some to Europe. Cantor 

 observes that this fish " yields isinglass in the Straits, but little is collected, partly on account of the comparative 

 scarcity of the fish, and partly owing to the thinness of the air-vessel. That of a large sized fish when dried 

 weighs upwards of one ounce." 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES.* 



1. Bates oalcarifer D 7 — 8/-n-l-j-2, A. ■g?^-, L. I. 60. Colour greyish. Seas of India, China, and Australia. 



1. Lates calcarlfer, Plate I, fig. 1. 



Holocentrus calcarifer, Bloch, t. 244. 



Perca calcar, Bl. Schn. p. 89. 



Perca pandoomenoo, EusseU, Fish. Vizag., ii, p. 23, f. 131. 



Holocentrus heptadactykis, Lacep. iv, pp. 344, 391. 



Ooius vaoU, Ham. Buch. Fish. Ganges, pp. 86, 369, pi. 16, f. 28. 



Bates nobilis, Cuv. and Val. ii, p. 96, f. 13 ; Richardson, Ich. China, p. 222 ; Bleeker, Perc. p. 27 ; Cantor, 

 Catal. Mai. Fish. p. 1 ; Hageman, Nat. Tyds. Ned. Ind. 1861, p. 348. 



Lates calcamfer, Giinther, Catal. Fish, i, p. 68 & P.Z.S. 1870, p. 824 ; Day, Fishes of Malabar, p. 2. 



Pleciropoma calcanrifer, Bleeker, Atl. Ich. Perc. t. xlv, fig. 3. 



Banga/ra, Sind.; Nuddee-meen or Navr-meen, Mai.; Pavrmee-meen or Koduwa, Tarn.; Pandu hopah or 

 PamAvb menu, Tel. ; Bmrruah and Bekhut, Ooriah ; • Begtd, Beng. ; Nga-tha-dyk, Arrac ; Koral, or if large Baor, 

 Chittagong ; Todah, Andam. ; Cock-up of Europeans. 



B. vii, D. 7— S/tt^-t^, P- 17, V. 1/5, A. ^?^, C. 17, L. 1. 62—60, L. tr. 6—7/13, Csec. pyl. 3. 



Length of head from 3/11 to 1/4, of caudal 1/5 to 1/6, height of body 3/10 to 3/11 of the total length. 

 Eyes — diameter 1/5 to 1/6 of the length of the head, from 1 to Ii diameters from end of snout, and 3/4 of a dia- 

 meter apart. In the immature the eye is comparatively larger. The maxilla extends to below the posterior 

 edge of the orbit. Preorbital and preopercle finely serrated, the latter with an obtuse angle, having a large tooth 

 directed backwards, and three smaller but strong denticulations along its lower edge : opercular spine weak. 

 Shoulder bone serrated. Teeth — villiform on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Fins — dorsal spines strong, the third 

 the highest, equaUing about the length of the post-orbital portion of the head, from it they decrease : third anal 

 spine longest and strongest, their proportionate lengths varying according to age, thus at four inches long the 



* Although only one species of this Genus has been described from India, it will be necessary here to indicate the mode which 

 will be pursued in this work as to the position of each individual in Genera which possess more than ope. An excellent method is to 

 begin with that form which is most typical : a second plan is to commence with those having the greatest affinity to the preceding Genus 

 and finish with those closely allied to the following one, in which case the most typical forms are in the middle: the third and least scien- 

 tific is what I propose adopting in order to facilitate reference, it is to place first those possessing the largest number of spines, rays and 

 scales, and continuing this plan throughout the Genua. Colour will not be adopted ior reasons advanced under the- next Genus. 

 (See page 9.) 



