50 ANABAXTIDJE. 



2. Pracorbital serrated ; snout pointed ; no palatine teeth. 



D. XV 10 ; A. VIII 11 15. A. oxyrhynckus, Blgr., p. 66. 



B. Caudal peduncle absent, dorsal and anal close to the caudal fin and 

 forming a nearly continuous outline ; snout pointed. 

 D. XVI-XVIII 9-12 ; A. IX-X 10-12 . . 16. A. ocellatus, Pellegr., p. 67. 



1. ANABAS CAPENSIS. 

 Spirobranchus capensis, Cuv. & Val. Hist. Poiss. vii. p. 392, pi. cc. (1831); Val. 



in Cuv. Regne Aniin. Illustr., Poiss. pi. lxxv. fig. 1 (1836) ; Casteln. Mem. 



Poiss. Afr. Austr. p. 36 (1861) ; Giinth. Cat. Fish. iii. p. 373 (1861) *. 

 Anabas capensis, Bouleng. Ann. & Mag. N. H. (7) xvi. 1905, p. 53. 



Depth of body 3 to 3 J times in total length, length of head 2f to 3 

 times. Snout rounded, as long as eye, which is 4 to 5 times in length 

 of head and 1 to H times in interorbital width; maxillary extending to 



wmmmmmmm 



Anabas capensis. 

 Type, after Cuvier & Valenciennes, 



below anterior third or centre of eye; palatine teeth present; none of 

 the bones of the head serrated ; operculum with a notch, between two 

 more or less obtuse spines. 8 or 9 short gill-rakers on lower part of 

 anterior arch. Dorsal XII-XIV 8-10; spines increasing in length to 

 the ninth or tenth, which measures about j length of head ; longest 

 soft rays about h length of head. Anal VI- VII 8-11, similar to dorsal. 

 Pectoral ^ to § length of head. Ventral not reaching anal. Caudal 

 rounded. Caudal peduncle about 1^ times as long as deep, the distance 

 between dorsal and caudal j to -j length of head. Scales rugose, partly 

 cycloid, partly ctenoid, 27-30 ^j^ ; lateral lines ^j^. Olive-brown 

 above, yellowish beneath, back sometimes spotted with blackish; three 



* The diagnosis given by Giinther does not apply to the first of the three specimens 

 enumerated by him, which belongs to the species here described as A. vkinus. 



