1146 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Nov, 



Ephippus argus, Cuv. R. A. II. 191. 



Chaetodon atromaculatus, Bennett : Ceylon No. 18. 



Scatophagus argus, Cuv. and Val. VII. 136. 



Scatophagus argus, Richardson Report 1845, 245. 



Scatophagus argus, Bleeker : Verh. Bat. Gen. XXII. 5. 



Head above and back silvery blackish or brownish green, or purple, 

 lighter on the sides ; abdomen whitish or yellowish ; back and sides, 

 and in some the opercles, with blackish or brownish spots, in form, 

 number and size liable to individual variations ; dorsal and anal spines 

 and membranes silvery, minutely dotted with black, imparting to the 

 latter a more or less intense colour ; dorsal, caudal and anal rays of 

 the ground colour of the body, their membranes more or less intense 

 black, with or without some smaller spots like those of the body ; 

 ventrals greyish or whitish, minutely dotted with black ; pectorals 

 whitish. Iris brown or blackish with a narrow golden circle round the 

 pupil. 



D 10—1/18, C 17|, A 4/14, V 1/5, P 18, Br. VI. 



Habit. — Estuaries and sea of Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Singa- 

 pore, 

 Malabar, Ceylon, Bay of Bengal, Gangetic estuaries, Java, 

 Celebes, Madura, Moluccas, China Sea. 



Total length : 10 inch. 



The young are generally of more brilliant colours ; in one taken in 

 the Joomrah, one of the mouths of the Ganges, the dorsal spines and 

 ventral fins were of a deep red. At Pinang this species is not very 

 numerous. It is eaten by the natives, though many reject it on ac- 

 count of its reputed disgusting habits. In several examined in the 

 estuaries of the Ganges, and at Pinang, the stomach contained remains 

 of small fishes and Crustacea. According to Bennett, it is in Ceylon 

 angled on hooks baited with a kind of sea-weed (" Pendah,") of which 

 this fish appears to be particularly fond. 



Gen. Holacanthus, Lacepede 1802. 



With a large backwards pointed spine at the angle of the preopercle, 

 the margins of which are toothed. 



Holacanthus annularis, (Bloch.) 



Chsetodon annularis, Bloch. Tab. 215, Fig. 2. 



Chsetodon annularis, Linne: Syst, 1262. 



