1849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 997 



Head above and back brown with a crimson hue, paler on the cheeks 

 and sides ; abdomen silvery rose-coloured ; across the back between 

 the opercles, a broad forwards arched black band ; in front of the root 

 of the caudal fin, on each side, a large round black spot : both joined 

 on the back, and both with a broad white margin, except on the back ; 

 dorsal spines crimson, the lower half of the rest of the dorsal fin red- 

 dish brown, the upper half crimson ; the anterior half of the caudal fin 

 reddish brown ; posterior half pale crimson ; the upper half of the 

 anal silvery reddish brown, the rest black ; the anterior third of the 

 ventrals white, the rest black ; pectorals pale rose-coloured. Iris 

 golden with crimson hue. 



Young. — Colours generally paler and the black marks less distinct. 



D 11/13 or 14, C 17f, A 3/9, V 1/5, P 16 or 17, Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula. 



Indian Ocean, Massaua (Red Sea), Ceylon, China Seas, 

 Batavia, Bantam, Cheribon, Samarang, Surubaya, Pa- 

 suruan, Patjitan, Celebes. 



Total length : 7 inch. 



The brown oblique lines of the body, described by M. M. Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes, do not exist during life, but appear after death, as 

 the original colours fade. The ascending margin of the preopercle is 

 very minutely toothed, but the lower part is very strongly so ; the latter 

 is arched, but there is scarcely any notch where it joins the ascending 

 straight part. This species is distinguished by the beauty of its colours 

 no less than by the symmetry of its forms. It feeds upon Crustacea. 

 A few occur at times at Pinang. 



Mesoprion gembra, (Bloch-Schneider.) 



Alphestes sambra, and gembra, Bloch-Schneider, page 236, PI. 51, 



fig. 2. 



Mesoprion gembra, Cuv. and Val. II. 485. 



Mesoprion gembra, Cuv. R. A, II. 144,(3). 



Upper part of the head and the back blackish brown ; cheeks and 

 sides silvery brownish grey ; abdomen whitish ; from occiput to the 

 tail numerous (from 10 to 15) vertical brownish black bands, terminat- 

 ing near abdomen, with intervals narrower than the bands themselves ; 

 apical part of dorsal spines and margin of their membrane pale crimson ; 

 the membrane with a transversal central series of brownish spots ; up- 



