1 849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1161 



caudal is scarcely £ of the former. The body is covered with small 

 rounded scales, considerably larger, however, than in Cepola rubescens, 

 Linne. The lateral line, like a thin cord, consists of keeled scales. 

 It proceeds from the upper part of the gill-opening obliquely upwards 

 to the fourth dorsal ray, from whence it accompanies the base of the 

 dorsal fin to the termination, which latter is joined to the caudal. The 

 length of the longest dorsal ray is J of the vertical diameter of 

 the body. The anal commences opposite the eighth dorsal ray ; the 

 longest rays slightly exceed those of the dorsal. The pectorals are 

 rounded, their length is ^ of the total. The ventrals are situated a 

 little in front of the pectorals, and are a little shorter ; the first ray 

 terminates in a filament reaching the anus, or origin of the anal fin ; 

 the fifth ray has three fourths of its length attached to the abdomen 

 by a membrane. The caudal is pointed ; its length is \\\ in the total. 

 The stomach is small, but thickened. There are eight csecopyloric 

 appendages. The intestinal caudal is \ of the length of the fish, The 

 air-vessel is rather large, silvery. Two individuals occurred at Pinang 

 in March and April 1845. The smaller, 4 inches in length, resembled 

 the one just described, in colours and in the distribution of the spots ; 

 but it differed in the following dimensions. The length of the head was 

 6 J in the total, of which the caudal and the pectorals measured ^. Both 

 head and these fins, therefore, were proportionally considerably longer 

 in the smaller than in the larger individual. The specimen in the Zoo- 

 logical Society's Museum, London, described by Mr. Swainson, mea- 

 sures one foot in length. 



FAM. GOBIOIDiE. 



Gen. Gobius, Linne, 1748. s 



Head depressed with pores between the eyes ; dorsal fins two, dis- 

 tinct, rays of both flexible ; ventral fins united at the edges, forming a 

 circle ; vent with a tubercle ; body covered with scales, the free edges 

 of which ciliated; teeth small, numerous; branchiostegous rays 5. 



Gobius elegans, Kuhl. and Van. Hasselt, Var. 



Buff with a tinge of olive, minutely dotted with brown ; the upper 



half of the sides with 3 or 4 indistinct lines, each formed by a series 



of very short brown streaks, beneath which a series of indistinct brown 



spots ; a blackish spot at the posterior margin of the orbit ; a second 



7 k 2 



