1144 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes, [Nov. 



Harpochirus punctatus, (Linne). 



Chsetodon punctatus, Linne: Syst. 1243. 



Chetodon faucheur, Lacepede. 



Cheetodon punctatus, Shaw, IV. 365. 



Russell LXXIX. Latte. 



Ephippus punctatus, Cuv. R. A. II. 191 ( 4 ). 



Drepane punctata, Cuv. and Val. VII. 132, PI. 179. 



Drepane punctata, Swainson II. 21 3* 



Drepane punctata, Richardson, Report 1845, 245. 



Drepane punctata, Sleeker : Verh. Bat. Gen. XXII. 5. 



Head and body iridescent silvery ; the crest from the occiput to the 

 dorsal fin blackish ; the upper half of the sides with more or less 

 regular vertical series of small black spots ; in some a small black 

 spot in the axilla, in others a single oblique series of spots at the base 

 of the soft dorsal ; spines and rays pale silvery, the anterior margins of 

 the first dorsal ray black ; fin-membranes whitish transparent, the scaly 

 portion silvery, the marginal minutely dotted with black, in some suffi- 

 ciently strong to impart a blackish appearance to the marginal half. 

 Iris silvery. 



D 8—1/20 or 21, C 17|, A 3/17, V 1/5, P 17 or 18, Br. VI. 



Habit. — Sea and estuaries Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Singapore, 

 Coasts of New Holland, New Guinea, Southern coasts of 

 China, Java, Celebes, Madura, Bay of Bengal, Gangetic 

 estuaries, Malabar. 



Total length : 1 foot 5 inch. 



The body appears to become elongated with age : in the adult the 

 diameter from the angle of the back to that at the commencement of 

 the anal fin is about £ of the length of the body, the caudal not in- 

 cluded. In the young it is something more than £ of that distance. 

 In the very young individuals the occipital crest is denticulated, and 

 they are at all seasons numerous at Pinang, but large individuals occur 

 rarely. In the largest observed, the length of which is given above, the 

 rounded protuberance of the skull between the eyes is very large and 

 prominent, and the roots of the four central caudal rays are enlarged 

 and joined together without any intermediate membrane. A similar 

 enlargement of the occipital crest and some of the bones occurs in adult 

 individuals of Platax arthriticus, Cuv. and Val. The present species 



