FAMILY, VII— SCORP^NID^. 155 



preorlital and preopercular spines: operdes arfaed. ,A mandibular harhel. Villiform teeth in jaws, vomer and 

 palate. A single dorsal fin with more spines than rays (D. »f:i=) ; three anal spines : pectoral elongated and having 

 afyeeray atitshase. Artimlated-fin-rays branched. Scales present. Air-vessel with a constriction. A cleft behind 

 the fourth gill. 



Geographical distribution. — From the Red Sea through those of India. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Apistus ca/rinatus, D. ^ V^ P- 12+1, A. f, L. r. 70. Body greyish above, rosy below : pectoral black 

 a^nd a black blotch on the spinous dorsal : soft dorsal and anal banded in spots. Seas of India to the Malay 

 Archipelago and beyond. 



1. Apistus carinatus, Plate XXXVII, fig. 4. 

 Soorpmna carinata, Bl. Schn. p. 193. 



Trigla worrah-minoo, Russell, Fish. Vizag. ii, p. 45, pi. 160, B. 



Apistus alatus, Cuv. and Val. iv, p. 392 ; Tern. Schleg. Fauna Japon, p. 49 ; Giinther, Catal. ii, p. 131. 

 Apistus carinatus, Cnv. and Val. iv, p. 395. 



Apistus Israelita/rwm, (Ehrenb.) Cuv. and Val. iv, p. 396 : Giinther, Catal. ii, p. 131 ; Klunz. Verb. z. b. 

 Ges. Wien, 1870, p. 809. 



Pterichthys alatus et carinatus, Swainson, Fish, ii, p. 265. 

 Polemius alatus, Kaup. Wiegm. Arch. 1858, p. 333. 



B. vi, D. 1 VS P- 12+1, V. 1/5, A. f, C. 12, L. r. 70. 



Length of head from 2/7 to 3/11, of caudal 1/4 to 2/9, height of body 3/13 to 1/4 of the total length. 

 J/yes— directed slightly upwards and outwards, diameter 2/7 to 1/4 of length of head, rather above 1 diameter 

 from end of snout, and 1/3 of a diameter apart. Upper surface of the head rugose with tw;o divergent lines 

 passing from the snout between the eyes to the occiput where they terminate in small spines a little in front of 

 either side of the base of the dorsal fin. The maxilla reaches to below the centre of the orbit. Preorbital spine as 

 long as the orbit, having two small ones anteriorly on the lower edge of the bone. Preopercle with one strong 

 spine and two or three small ones along its lower edge : opercle rugose, with two spines and a spinate temporal 

 ridge. Barbels — a long slender one, equalling the diameter of the eye, is situated below the mandibular 

 symphysis, and another a short distance behind it; Teeth — villiform in jaws, vomer and palate. Fins — first 

 dorsal spines increase to the sixth, then decrease to the fourteenth ; in some specimens the first few dorsal spines 

 are shorter than in others : membrane deeply notched, fifteenth spine nearly twice as long as the preceding 

 one : pectoral reaching to the base of the last dorsal ray, its single appendage to the first of the anal : ventral 

 slightly longer : third anal spine the longest : caudal cut square. Scales — small, somewhat trefoil in shape. 

 Air-vessel — thick, constricted in the centre. . Colours — body greyish along the back, becoming rosy on the 

 abdomen : pectorals deep black : appendage milk-white : dorsal diaphanous, tinged with grey and edged with 

 black, a deep black blotch from the eighth to the fourteenth spine : three oblique brownish streaks on the soft 



' dorsal, which also has a brown edging : upper pectoral ray white : caudal with four vertical black bands : anal 



■ greyish, with a yellow horizontal band. 



Russell mentions a variety of a grey colour. Ehrenberg's specimen at Berlin has D.'g-', n^t V ^^ given by 

 C.V. and Klunzinger. 



^ Habitat. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond, attaining 5 inches in length. 



Genus, 7 — Cbnteopogon, Giinther. 



Gymnapistes, sp. Swainson. 



Branchiostegals six or seven. Head and body rather strongly compressed : no groove on occiput. Preorbital- 

 with a strong spine, preopercle lihewise spinate : opercle armed. Villiform teeth in the ja/uos, vomer and palatine 

 hones. A svngle dorsal fin with m^ore spines than rays (D. ^yI|-°) : anal with three spines : pectoral vnthout any free 

 rays at its base : articulated fin-rays bo-anched. Scales present. (A narrow cleft behind the fourth gill.) 



Geographical distribution. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Gentropogon Indicus, D. i/, A. |, L. r. 80. Pinkish, with irregular bands on the head : bars on body, 

 anal and caudal fins. Madras. 



1. Gentropogon Indicus, Plate XXXVIII, fig. 2. 

 B. vii, D. V, P- 10, V. 1/4, A. f, C. 14, L. r. 80. 



Length of head 3/10, of caudal 1/5, height of body 1/4 of the total length. %es— diameter 2/7 of length 

 of head, 3/4 of a diameter from end of snout, and 2/3 of a diameter apart. The maxilla reaches to below the 

 first third of the eye : lower jaw slightly the longer. Interorbital space slightly concave, traversed by two 

 ridges which posteriorly have rather spinate terminations. Preorbital with a strong spine extending to below 

 the last third or hind edge of the eye, and having a small one at its base. A strong preopercular spine equal, to 



X 2 



