262 report — 1845. 



the angle of the mouth. The jaw is not swelled as in Cossyphus, but except in that respect 

 and the interrupted lateral line, this fish agrees closely with that genus. The scales are large, 

 there being only about twenty in a longitudinal row behind the gill-opening. The upper 

 part of the lateral line is traced on thirteen scales and the lower one on eight, the parts over- 

 lapping each other a little. The tubes of the scales are sparingly furnished with lateral 

 branches which are mostly short and basal. On some scales near the tail they are quite 

 simple. 



The prevailing tint of the specimens, which have been for two years in spirits, is a rich pur- 

 plish brown, with lighter parts forming indistinctly about six bars, the first of which descends 

 from the suboperculum over the breast, the second is behind the pectoral, and the last on the 

 base of the caudal. The dark parts are clouded and spotted, and run over the dorsal and 

 anal. They anastomose irregularly with one another, and are also varied by a narrow pale 

 vertical streak on each scale, the tip of the scale being dark. Similar streaks, inclined various 

 ways, exist on the scales of the operculum and temples, and on the cheek and interoperculum 

 they are contracted into a roundish spot in the centre of each scale. Three pale lines cross 

 each preorbitar, and one follows the curve of the orbit on the suborbitar, having underneath 

 it a row of pale pores with open mouths. The caudal is pale towards the base, dark and 

 mottled on the posterior, with the extreme tip paler again. The pectoral is pale without 

 markings, and there are dark blotches on the ventrals. 



Two specimens, about five inches long, exist in Sir Edward Belcher's collection, in which 

 they were associated with some Chinese fish, but the place of their capture was not noted. 



Hab. Sea of China. 



Epibulus insidiator, Pallas (Sparus), SpiciL p. 41. t. 5. fig. 1 ; C. et V. 



xiv. p. 110. pi. 398. Sparus insidiator, Bl. Schn. 278. 



A specimen exists in Sir Edward Belcher's collection, most probably but not certainly obtained 

 on the coast of China. 



Hab. Sea of China ? Moluccas, Java, Sumatra and the Mauritius. 



Scarus LiMBATUs, C. et V. xiv. p. 271. Icon. Reeves, a. 13 ; Hardw. 312. 

 Chinese name, Ching e, "Blue clothes" (Reeves); Tsing i (Bridgera. 

 Chrest. 123). Scarus ovifrons, Temm. et Schl. F. J. Sieb. pi. 88 ? Mad. 

 D. 9|10; A. 3|9; C. llf ; P. 14; V. l|5. (Spec. Brit. Mus.) 



John Reeves, Esq. presented an example of this specimen from Canton to the British Mu- 

 seum. It differs slightly, in the numbers of its rays, from the specimen of limbatus described 

 in the ' Histoire des Poissons,' also from Canton, yet the distribution of the colours is so 

 similar, that I have little hesitation in considering it to be of the same species. I am also of 

 opinion that it is identical with Sc. ovifrons of the ' Fauna Japonica.' It has a gibbous snout, 

 though not to the same degree as is exhibited in the figure of the species just named, but 

 such gibbosities vary in many fish with age, and not unfrequently with the degree of fatness 

 of the individual. There is some discrepancy as to colour, and on that account I have quoted 

 the synonym with doubt, which may perhaps be cleared away when the letter-press of this 

 portion of the ' Fauna Japonica ' appears, and we learn whether the figure was illuminated from 

 the recent fish or from one whose colours had partially changed. The Chinese name of the fish 

 is the same as that of the Cossyphus cyanostolus. The jaws are greenish with a smooth sur- 

 face, in which the form of the teeth is obscurely seen. The edges of the jaws are crenated, 

 particularly posteriorly, where the edges are also undulated, but there is no canine tooth 

 there. The scales have finely granulated discs, and the lateral line is formed of a series of 

 tubes, each with a bushy tip, which is so obscure as^ scarcely to be distinguished from the granu- 

 lations. Twenty-five scales compose the line, the last three lying on the caudal fin. Length 

 of specimen 1 6f inches, of drawing 14 inches. In the drawing the general colour is blackish- 

 green, slightly glossed with brown on the belly, the edges of the scales being dark chocolate. 

 The dark green surrounds the eye, and glosses the lower part of the cheek and the inter- 

 operculum ; the rest of the sides of the head, the breast and discs of all the fins are dark 

 hyacinth-red, which in the anal is glossed with auricula-purple. The outer edges of all the fins, 

 the corner of the mouth and the lower lip are indigo-blue. The edges of the lips are carmine. 

 Hab. Seas of China, Japan, Java, and the Mauritius. 



Scarus pyrrostethus, Richardson. Icon. Reeves, 76 ; Hardw. 309. Chi- 

 nese name, Suy nga, " Grinding teeth" (Reeves); Tsui nga (Bridgem. 

 125). Had. D.9|10; A.3|9; C.llfj P.14;V.1|5. (Spec. Brit. Mus.) 



A specimen in the British Museum is identified by Mr. Reeves as belonging to the species 

 which his drawing represents. The specimen measures 1,'iJ inches, the drawing an inch 



