1849. J Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1143 



Chsetodon orbe, Lacep. IV. 458, 491. 



Chsetodon orbis, Shaw, IV. 339 . 



Ephippus orbis, Cuv. R. A. II. 191 ( 3 ). 



Ephippus orbis, Cuvier and Val. VII. 127. 



Ephippus orbis, Swainson, II. 213. 



Ephippus orbis, Richardson Rep. 1845, 245. 



Head above and back light greyish green; sides and abdomen 

 silvery with pale lilac lustre; fin-membranes transparent, minutely 

 dotted with black, giving the marginal half a blackish appearance ; 

 dorsal and anal spines and their membranes, pale silvery, the rays 

 yellowish white. Iris pale golden, minutely dotted with black. 



D 8—1/19, C 17f, A 3/16, V 1/5, P 19, Br. VI. 



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



Malabar, Tranquebar, Pondicherry, Indian and China Seas. 



Total length : 5f inch. 



The greatest vertical diameter of the head exceeds by \ its length, 

 which is a little less than \ of the total ; the greatest vertical diameter 

 of the body is If in the total length. The young individuals, like those 

 of Ilarches faber, (Brouss.) are of a less orbicular outline than the 

 adult, their greatest vertical diameter being \ of the total length. On 

 each side of the centre of the upper jaw appears a small pore, and on 

 each side of the symphysis of the lower two similar, the one placed 

 a little in front of the other. There is besides a larger pore or some- 

 times two on each branch of the lower jaw. The posterior margin of 

 the caudal fin is not straight, but convex in the centre, above and 

 below which it is slightly concave. In the young the colour of the 

 dorsal membrane, particularly the upper half of the soft, the anal and 

 the ventral is of a deeper black than in the adult. Although indivi- 

 duals occur at Pinang at all seasons, they are not numerous. The fish 

 though bony, and considered indifferent, is by the natives consumed 

 both fresh and dried. 



Gen. Harpochirus,* Cantor. 

 (Equivalent to Drepane, Cuv. and Val.) 



Pectoral fins elongated, falciform, nearly reaching the base of the 

 caudal ; outline of the body almost quadrangular. 



* "A P 7T7j, scythe ; x^Pt hand. Substituted for Drepane, Cuv. and Val, 1831, 

 pre-occupied by Drepana, Schrank 1802 (Lepidoptera.) 



7 H 



