1020 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Oct. 



brown. Iris pale golden green ; pupil black, heart-shaped by a pointed 

 lobe descending from the upper margin of the iris. 



D 1—8—1—13, C 15f, A 13, V 1/5, P. 18 or 19, Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang. 



Sea of Madagascar, Red Sea, Moluccas, Seas of China and 

 Japan, Batavia, Bay of Bengal, estuaries of the Ganges. 



Total length : 1 ft. 6 inch. 



M. M. Cuvier and Valenciennes count 8 spines in the anterior 

 dorsal fin ; at a short distance, however, in front of the first of these 

 eight, is a very small isolated reclining spine, and in the space 

 between the eighth spine, and the first ray of the posterior dorsal, 

 slightly nearer the latter than it is the former, is another very minute 

 isolated reclining spine, which thus make the whole number of spines 

 10 instead of 8. The first and the tenth spines are so minute, and in 

 the living fish so hid in the scales, that they easily escape notice. 

 Russell, indeed, in PI. XLVI. correctly gives the tenth spine, and his 

 description counts 9 — 13 in the dorsal fins. 



This as well as the following species of Platycephalus is occasionally 

 taken in the fishing stakes placed along the coasts ; they are all capa- 

 ble of sustaining life some little time out of water. They are eaten by 

 the natives. 



Platycephalus clavulatus, Cantor. 



(Young?) — Head above, opercles, back and sides pale reddish 

 brown ; beneath and behind the posterior dorsal fin some large patches 

 of a lighter brown ; along the anterior half of the back some distant 

 brown dots ; along the lateral line a more regular series of distant 

 brown dots ; abdomen and sides, from a little below the lateral line, 

 white ; from behind the ventral fins minutely dotted with brown ; 

 cheeks whitish, minutely dotted with brown, and with two short verti- 

 cal brown streaks beneath the orbit ; membrane of anterior dorsal 

 minutely dotted with brown ; the upper half so closely so, as to acquire 

 a blackish appearance ; posterior dorsal whitish, each ray with one or 

 two brown dots at the upper part ; caudal membrane whitish, minutely 

 dotted with brown ; at the root an indistinct semicircular brown band, 

 near the margin some irregular brown spots, which near the lower part 

 are confluent, forming an oblique band ; anal whitish ; ventrals and 

 pectorals minutely and so closely dotted with brown, as to have a 



