1056 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Oct. 



The air-vessel is elongated, nearly one third of the total length, swell- 

 ing in the middle, terminating in a point ; the anterior extremity is 

 blunt and appears to have on each side a pointed process, a little less 

 than one third of the length of the vessel itself, which is restricted at 

 the origin of the lateral processes. The second anal spine is exces- 

 sively thick, striated on the anterior surface ; its length slightly exceeds 

 one half of the vertical diameter of the body above it, but it is con- 

 siderably less than one half of the vertical diameter at the pectorals. 

 This spine is therefore comparatively shorter in the present species 

 than it is in P. kaakan, Cuv. and Val. which it however much resem- 

 bles in distribution of colour and other characters. The fish is finely 

 flavoured, but its isinglass is of little value, as the air-vessel is very 

 thin. At Pinang it is of very rare occurrence. 



Pristipoma nigrum, Mertens. 

 Pristipoma nigrum. Cuv. and Val. V. 258. 



Young. Blackish brown, opercles pale silvery ; membrane of dorsal 

 spines pale brown with lilac reflections, margin black ; soft part of 

 dorsal and anal blackish brown with whitish yellow margin ; pectorals 

 and caudal whitish yellow with a blackish vertical band at the root ; 

 ventrals blackish brown. Iris King's-yellow with a black orbital margin. 



D 14/16, C 17^, A 3/7, V 1/5, P 17, Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang. 

 Manila. 



Total length (of the young) : 2-f inch. 



The head is | of the length of the body, not including the caudal 

 which is -*- of the total length. The greatest vertical diameter of the 

 body is ^ of the total length. The eye occupies the second third of 

 the head. The basal half of the soft dorsal, anal, and of the caudal 

 fin covered with minute scales. 



This fish, of which a single individual was observed in 1845 at 

 Pinang, appears to be the young of P. nigrum, from which it 

 merely differs by the yellowish colour of the caudal, pectorals and of 

 the margins of soft dorsal and anal fins. 



Pristipoma paikeeli, Cuv. and Val. 

 Russell CXXI. Paikeeli. 

 Pristipoma paikeeli, Cuv. R. A. II. 176 < L) 

 Pristipoma paikeeli, Cuv. and Val. V. 259. 



