1 84 9 . J Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1117 



ScyrU ruppelli, {Young) 1 SwainS0D) „ 251> 



Scyris indicus, (Adult) J 



Scyris indica, Richardson, Report, 1845, 276. 



Head above and back blackish silvery ; cheeks and opercles shining 

 silvery, the latter minutely and sparingly dotted with brown ; at the 

 upper part of the posterior margin of the opercle a small intensely 

 black spot ; the rest of the body silvery satin, abdomen sparingly 

 dotted with brown ; fin-rays and membranes yellowish white ; upper 

 margin of the second dorsal and posterior margin of the caudal minutely 

 dotted, so as to appear blackish ; root of the pectoral silvery. Iris 

 silvery, upper orbital half bluish black. 



D 1/19, C 17f, A 1/16, V 1/5, P 19, Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang 



Java, Pondicherry, Red Sea, China Seas* 



Total length -. 1 foot 9 inch. 



The length of the head is 3£ in the total, measured to the centre of 

 the posterior margin of the caudal ; the depth at occiput is but \ of 

 the total length. The diameter of the orbit is \ of the length of the 

 head. In both jaws appear two or three series of small, but strong, 

 conical teeth resembling those of some Sparoidce ; those on each side 

 of the symphysis are larger than the rest. The vomer presents a few 

 similar, but the small, oblong, tongue is covered with card-like teeth. 

 The greatest vertical diameter of the body, in front of the dorsal fin, is 

 2f in the total length. Each of the small scales composing the lateral 

 line has a central longitudinal tube, from the posterior part of which 

 branch off two smaller ones : one upwards and backwards, the other 

 downwards and backwards. The arched, somewhat undulating portion 

 of the line terminates opposite the middle of the dorsal fin. The 

 straight portion consists mostly of small scales, but towards the termi- 

 nation of the dorsal the posterior eleven gradually enlarge and become 

 sharply keeled ; the three or four last, although the largest, do not 

 exceed ■£% of the greatest vertical diameter of the body. In the adult 

 the cranial crest is very large and arched, like that observed in Plataoc 

 arthriticus, but the posterior part, from opposite the opercle, is not con- 

 tiguous, but consists of three separate, gradually decreasing, egg-shaped 

 pieces of bone. Behind the last, lie six successive pieces, entirely 

 hid under the integuments, and resting on the interspinals. The ante- 



