FAMILY, XLI-LABRID^. 401 



from the shoulder to the back of the tail : a red streak extends from the-axilla to the abdomen, many of the scales 

 on the body with bine spots : dorsal and anal margined with a green blue-edged band. Caudal with reddish- 

 violet transverse bands. 



The colours in P. Ceylonensis are given thus : " Yellow, head gray rividated with yellow : a yellow 

 interrupted band along the lateral-liue : another lateral band of the same colour, edged with blue, runs along 

 the side and emits numerous short processes towards the belly : an oblique yellow streak across the base of the 

 pectoral to the belly : vertical fins yellow : a band along the base of the dorsal edged with blue inferiorly : an 

 oblique blue streak behind the base of each dorsal ray, a second behind its middle, and a spot of the same 

 colour behind its top : anal fin with two blue bands : caudal with three irregular transverse rivulated blue 

 bands." 



SaMtat.^-Biei Sea, East coast of Africa, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. The specimen figured 

 is from the Andamans, it is 6"8 inches in length. 



10. Platyglossus bimaculatus, Plate LXXXV, fig. 5. 



Saliehceres 'bimaculatus, Riipp. N. W. Fische, p. 17, t. v, f. 2. 



JvMs ivmaeulatus, Cuv. and Yal. xiii, p. 491. 



Platyglossus himaoulatus, Giinther, Catal. iv, p. 157 ; Klunz. Verh. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1871, p. 545. 



B. vi, D. T%, P. 13, y. 1/5, A. T^, 0. 14, L. 1. 27, L. tr. 4/9. 



Length of head 4, of caudal 9, height of body 4 in the total length. Eyes — diameter 5 in length of 

 head, 2 diameters from end of snout, and 1| apart. Fins — caudal truncated with its outer rays slightly 

 produced. Colours — ^yellowish, greenish round the lower edge of the eye, with violet-coloured bands radiating 

 from it : a broad dark green band passes from the eye to the base of the caudal, and a row of light spots above it. 

 A triangular black spot, edged with white, exists on the ninth or tenth scales of the lateral-line, and is 

 continued downwards in a more diffused form. Upper edge of dorsal fin yellow, having a narrow, purplish, 

 intramargiual line, its lower two-thirds reddish, with two rows of roimd bluish spots edged with yellow : a 

 dark wide band along the middle of the anal. Caudal vertically rivulated with green, and having a light edge. 

 TMs species may be variously coloured : the ocelli on the vertical fins becoming bands and vice versa. 



Habitat. — Red Sea, East coast of Africa, and seas of India, The specimen figured is from Madras, and 

 the only one obtained ; it is 8 inches in length.* 



Genus, 10 — Novacuia, Cuv. and Yal. 

 Xyriehthys, sp. Cuv. and Val. 



Branehiostegals six : body oblong, impressed : the head also compressed, having its upper edge sharp or 

 obtuse. Anterior teeth conical : no posterior canine : inferior pham/ngeal teeth not confluent or pavevnent-like. Dorsal 

 fin single with less spines (9) than rays (12), the two fi/rst dorsal spines sometimes more or less separated from the 

 others. Scales rather large : head may be entirely scaleless, or the cheeks with two or more rows of small ones, no 

 enlarged row at base of caudal fin. Lateral-line interrupted. 



This Genus haa been sub-divided into the follovring sub-genera : 



1. The two first dorsal spines more or less separated from the remainder of the fin. 



A. Cheeks without or with merely a few rudimentary scales. Iniistius, Gill. 



a. Upper edge of the head sharp. Xirichthys, Bleeker. 



b. Upper edge of the head rather obtuse. Novaoulichthys, pt. Bleeker. 



B. Cheeks scaled. Hemipteronotus, Bleeker. 



2. No anterior division of the dorsal fin. 



C. Cheeks without or wdth merely a few rudimentary scales. Xirichthys et Malacocentrus, GUI. 



a. Upper edge of the head sharp. Novacula, Bleeker. 



b. Upper edge of the head rather obtuse. Novaculiehthys, pt. Bleeker. 



D. Cheeks with two or three rows of scales. Novaculiehthys, pt. Bleeker. 

 B. Cheeks scaled. 



Geographical ddstribution.— Bed Sea, seas of India, and generally into tropical seas and beyond. 



SYNOPSIS OP SPECIES. 

 1. The two first dorsal spines more or less separated from the remainder of the fin. 



♦Platyglossus purpureo-lineatus. 



jMlisjmrjmreo-lMieafrits, Cnv. and Val. xiii, p. 471. _ . , • i i. i_ i ™ j.i,„ i,„„i. 



This species, described from a drawing by Major Finlayson, is thus defined : Cohms-green, with Tiolet streaks on .the back, 



on the middle of the body and on the borders of the dorsal and anal fins ; pectoral yellow : head yellowish, spotted witU violet : the 



candal with small red streaks : the base of the dorsal spotted with very vivid red. 



Eabitat. — Siam, ? Ceylon. * „ 



