402 ACANTHOPTEETGII. 



A. Cheeks witTmd or wiih mereTrf a few ncdimentcvry. scales. 



1. Novaaula rufa, B. 2 \ ^, A. -f^, L. 1. 26. Two rows of minute scales below and behind the eyes. 

 Reddish, caudal with reticulated gray lines. Madras. 



B. (Jheeks more or less sealed. 



2. Novaaula pentadactyla, D. 2 | t^, A. A. L. 1. 28. Bight or nine rows of scales descend from the eye 

 to behind the angle of the mouth. Reddish-brown, with a row of spots behind the eye : a dark spot on side : 

 dorsal and anal fins with oblique blue markings. Bombay to China. 



3. Novaaula pmctulata, J). 2 \ ■^, A. t\, L. 1. 27. Eight rows of scales descend from the eye to behind 

 the angle of the mouth. Reddish-brown, no spots behind the eyes : _ most of the scales with a red base and blue 

 streak : anterior profile blue. Eins with bluish lines. Seas of India to China. 



1. Novacula rufa, Plate LXXXV, fig. 6. 

 f XiriaUhys cyanifrons, Cuv. and Val. xiv, p. 4&; Bleeker, Beng. en Hind. p. 64, 

 / Novaaula eyanifrons, Giinther, Catal. iv, p. 171. 

 Novaaula rufa, Tfay, Proc Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 238. 



B. vi, D. 2 I ^, P. 14, V. 1/5, A. ^, 0. 14, L. 1. 26, L. tr. 5/13. 



Length of head 2/7, of caudal 1/8, height' of body nearly 1/3 of the total length. Myes—bigh up,- above 



2 diameters from end of snout : some smaU scales behind and below the orbit. Body strongly compressed, dorsal 

 profile nearly vertical : upper and anterior edge of head sharp. Fins— two first dorsal spines produced, and 

 a deep notch in the interspinous membrane between them and the rest of the fin : spines as long as snout. 

 Outer ventral ray produced, the fin reaches 2/3 of the distance to the base of the anal. _ Colours — ^rosy, becoming 

 yellowish on the abdomen : the fins yellowish, except the caudal, which has dark grayish reticulated bands. 



Specimens from Pondicherry marked Xirichthys cyamfrons, which I saw in Paris, appeared to be identical 

 with the species described above, with the exception of longer ventrals : they had a few scales as seen in rufa, but 

 some other specimens marked as from Bombay were destitute of these scales. N. Gelebiaa, Bleeker, judging 

 from the specimen in the British Museum,, appears closely allied to this species. 



Eahitat. — Seas of India. The specimen figured (life-size) is from Madras.. 



2. Novacula pentadactyla. 



Coryphcena pentadactyla, Linn. Syst. i, p. 446 ; Bloch, t. 173 ; Gmel. Linn. p. ll&l ; Bl. Schn. p. 294. . 

 Hemipteronotus qumque-maculatus^ Lacep. iii,.p- 215. 



Novaaula pent'adaatyl'a, Cuv. and Val. xiv, p. 69, pi. 395 ; Richard. Ich. China, p. 261 ; Bleeker, Bengal 

 en Hind. p. 54, and Celebes, p. 222 ; Giinther, Catal. iv, p. 177. 

 Novaaula sex-maaulafa, Cuv. and Val. xiv, p. 72. 

 Hermpteronotus pentaduatyhos, Bleeker, Labr. p. 294, and Atl. Ich. i, p. 150, t. xxx, f . 4. 



B. vi, D. 2 I ^, P. 12, V. 1/5, A. ■^, C. 12, L. 1. 28. 



Length of head 4 to 41, of caudal 6^ to 6f , height of body 3| in the total length. Eyes — high up, 1/2 

 a diameter from the dorsal profile-, 4^ diameters in length of head, 2 to 2^ diameters from end of snout. 

 Height of head hardly exceeds its length. Profile from snout to forehead nearly vertical. Preorbital in the 

 adult, equals in height about 2 diameters of the eye. Fims — the first two dorsal spines remote from the rest, 

 thin, flexible, longer than those in the remainder of the Sn, and with the interspinous membrane cleft almost to 

 its base. Outer ventral ray rather elongated. Caudal rounded. Scales — 8 to 9 rows descending from the 

 eye to behind the angle of the mouth. Colours — flight reddish-brown, a row of five or six round red spots 

 behind the eye, most of the scales on the body with a red basal spot : a iDlaokish blotch on the side of the body 

 just below the lateral-line above the end of the pectoral fin, and a reddish blotch inferior to the black one. 

 Oblique narrow blue lines on the dorsal fin, two horizontal ones along the anal, and several vertical ones 

 on the caudal. i 



Habitat. — Prom Bombay through the Malay Archipelago to China. A specimen from Bombay exists in 

 the Paris Museum. 



3. Novacula punctulata, Plate LXXXVIII,- fig. 2. 



Cuv. and Val. xiv, p. 73 ; Giinther, Catal. iv, p. 177 (? Bleeker, N. pentadactyla, Labr. p. 22). 



Xyrichthys ayamifrons, Jerdon, M. J. L. and Sc. 1851, p. 135 (not Cuv. and Val.). 



B. vi, D. 2 I ^, P. 11, V. 1/6, A. ^, C. 14, L. L 27, L. tr. 4/13. 



Length of head ^, of caudal 6i, height of body 4i in the total length. %es— high up, about 



3 diameters from, the end of snout. Profile from snout to forehead very abrupt. Height of head exceeds its 

 length by one-third. Fims — tv^o first dorsal spiaes separated by a cleft from the remainder of the fin : ventral 

 reaches the anal when laid flat. Caudal rounded. Soafes— cheeks covered with about 8 rows. Colours — 

 brownish, with a dark spot on the side above the end of the pectoral fin, most of the scales on the body with a 

 blue spot or streak, and reddish base : anterior profile bluish : fins orange, two blue bands along the dorsal, and 

 three along the anal fins, also numerous oblique grayish bands : vertical blue bands on the caudaL 



