1016 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Oct. 



founded upon a drawing by M. M. Kuhl and Van Hasselt, the present 

 principally differs in the comparative shortness of the 2 nd , 3 d , and 

 4 th pectoral filaments. Although not extending to the caudal fin, they 

 are the longest, and thus retain the relative dimensions. As these 

 organs are liable to individual variations in all the other species, there 

 appears no reason to doubt the identity of the present and P. hexa- 

 nemus. From P. xanthonemus, Cuv. and Val. the present differs in 

 the lineated scales, and in the length of the caudal lobes, being more 

 than I of the total. A single individual was observed at Pinang in 

 1844. 



POLYNEMUS HEPTADACTYLUS, Cuv. and Val. 



Polynemus heptadactylus, Cuv. and Val. Ill, 390. 



Polynemus heptadactylus, Bleeker : Verh. Batav. Gen. XXII. 25, 60. 



Head above and back yellowish green ; sides beneath the lateral 

 line and abdomen pale silvery ; fin-membranes pale yellow, minutely 

 dotted with black, particularly the pectoral fins which have a black 

 appearance ; filaments white ; the points of the four superior, nearest 

 the pectorals, bright yellow. Iris silvery, blackish towards the upper 

 margin of the orbit. 



D 8—1/12, C 17j£, A 3/11, V 1/5, P 13, Filaments 7, Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang, 



Batavia, Cheribon, Samarang. 



Total length : 4f inch. 



In colours, general outline, and relative proportions this species so 

 greatly resembles P. hexanemus that no difference can be assigned, but 

 the additional seventh filament. The straight lateral line deviates 

 slightly downwards at the root of the caudal ; on the middle of the 

 fin it divides in two parallel branches, which terminate in the centre of 

 the posterior margin. The scales have a raised central line, forming 

 series of continued lines, parallel to the lateral line. The two filaments 

 nearest the pectoral fins and the seventh are equal, shorter than the 

 other four which extend to the anal fin. The ascending margin of the 

 preopercle is toothed as in P. hexanemus. According to M. M. 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes the present in forms and colours so closely 

 resembles the American species: P. plumieri, (Lacep),* that they 



* P. virginicus, Linne ? — P. paradisceus, Bloch. — Polydactylies plumieri, 

 Lacep. — P. americanus, Cuv. and Val. 



