228 ACANTHOPTERTGII. 



Senola Dusmmieri, C.V. ix, p. 217, D. 5 | ^, A. 2 | -Jy , may be the young of tMs species, the specimens 

 from the Bay of Bengal being only 2 inches in length, but having 7 vei;tical brown bands. There is however in 

 the Madras Museum a stuffed specimen 22 inches in length, having D. 5 | ■^, A. 2 | Jj-. Eyes, diameter 2/7 of 

 length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout, a slight keel on the side of the taU, and which appears different 

 from 8. nigrofasciata. I have also a skin 12 inches long, in a bad state, from the same place. The ventrals are 

 shorter than in S. nigrofasciata. 



Habitat.— Red Sea, East coast of Africa, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. The one 

 figured (Hfe-size) was captured in Madras in February, 1867, they are not rare. 



Genus, 4 — Seeiolichthts, BleeJcer. 



Decaptus, Poey. 



BrancUostegals seven. Body oblong, compressed: abdomen rounded. Cleft of mouth of rmderaie depth. 

 Preopercle slightly cremdated or entire. Villiform teeth on the jaws, vomer, wnd palatmes. First dorsal fin, 

 continuous, the second and the amal with mamy more rays, and each having one or two finlets posteriorly : a pair of 

 pre-anal spines remote from the rest of the fin may he present or absent. Scales cycloid, small. Lateral-line unarmed. 



Geographical distribution. — From the Bast coast of Africa, through the seas of India, to the Malay Archi- 

 pelago and beyond. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Serioliehthys bipinnulatus, D. 6 [ arir? +i- ^- 0-2 I li-fr-l-i- Two longitudinal bands, one from the 

 eye to the end of the dorsal, the second to the middle of the caudal fin. Seas of India. 



1. Serioliehthys bipinnulatus, Plate LI, A. fig. 1. 



Senola bipinnulata, Quoy and Gaim, Voy. Uranie, Zool. i, p. 363, pi. 61, f. 3 ; Cuv. Reg. Anim. HI. Poiss. 

 p. 130 ; Jenyns, Voy. Beagle, Fishes, p. 72. 



Elagatis bipinnulatus, Benn. Whaling Voyage, ii, p. 283. 



Serioliehthys bipinnulatus, Bleeker, Nat. Tyds. Ned. Ind. vi, p. 196 ; Giinther, Catal. ii, p. 468 ; Klnnz. 

 Verh. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1871, p. 452. 



Serioliehthys lineolatus, Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 559. * 



Kulul, Tam. 



B. vii, D. 5 1 ^l^ + i, P. 21, V. 1/5, A. 0-2 | tt^^ + i, C. 18, L. 1. 95, L. tr. 16/28. 



Length of head 1/5, of caudal 1/4 to 4/17, height of body 1/5 of the total length. Eyes — diameter 1/4 of 

 length of head, IJ diameters from end of snout, and also apart. Body elongated and compressed, its greatest 

 height being opposite the origin of the soft dorsal fin. Lower jaw sUghtly the longer, gape of mouth rather 

 narrow, the maxilla reaches to below the front edge of the eye. GiE-openings cleft as far forwards as to below 

 the anterior edge of the orbit. Teeth — ^villiform in jaws, vomer, palatines, and on the tongue. Fins — dorsal 

 spines of moderate strength, low, with the interspinous membrane deeply cleft. Anterior portion of second 

 dorsal highest, equalling 2/5 of that of the body, at a short distance behind this fin are two rays placed close 

 together and forming a finlet, they are rather elongated and reach the root of the caudal fin. Pectoral short, 

 equalling 1/9 of the total length. Anal of the same form but anteriorly lower than the soft dorsal, being 2/7 of 

 the height of the body, it has similarly a posterior finlet. Caudal deeply forked, its middle rays being only equal 

 to 2/7 of its outer ones. Scales — on cheeks, upper edge of opercles, behind the eyes, and over the body. Colours 

 — two longitudinal blue bands pass from the eye, the upper to the ddrsal fijilet, and the lower to the centre of 

 the base of the caudal fin. 



Giinther (Catal. 1. c.) gives two pre-anal spines. Not finding any in Madras specimens, I concluded they 

 belonged to a distinct species : however, since then I see in the " Fishes of Zanzibar," p. 62, that it is observed, 

 " Bleeker 's statement that there are two pre-anal spines separate from the remainder of that fin requires 

 further confirmation." The fish mentioned by Jerdon, M. J. L. and Sc. 1851, p. 136, as Poon Jcolal, Tamil, 

 is this species. 



Habitat. — From the East coast of Africa, through the seas of India, to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 

 It attains several feet in length. The specimen figured (nearly 12 inches long) is from Madras. 



Genus, 5— Naucrates, Cuv. 

 Nauclerus, Cuv. and Val. (young). 



BrancUostegals seven. Body oblong, sub-cylindrical. Cleft of m^uth moderate. In the very young tlwre is a 

 spine at the angle of the preopercle, which becomes absorbed as age advances. Villiform teeth in the jaws, vomer, and 

 -palatine bones. The first dorsal fin, which is continuous in the young, becomes reduced to a few spines in the adult: 

 the second dorsal and anal with many rays ; no spurious fins : in the young two pre-anal spines remote from the soft 

 fin, and which become lost with age. Scales small : lateral-line unarmed : a keel on either side of the tail. Air-vessel 

 present. Pyloric appendages in moderate numbers. 



The natural position of this Genus has been subjected to several changes. It is amongst the Soonibridre in 

 Cuv. and Val.'s grand work, and Gunther in his " Catalogue of Fishes," left Naucrates in the same family, but 



