1849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1199 



bowel. The linear elongated intermaxillaries form the margin of 

 the mouth, and have two series of long, distant, arched teeth, each 

 with a minute barb on the posterior part of the point. The teeth 

 of the external series are fixed, but those of the internal are moveable, 

 and may be laid down like those of Saurus nehereus, (Buchan. Hamil- 

 ton). The teeth of the lower jaw resemble those of the upper, 

 but they are more numerous ; those of the inner series are a little 

 longer, and those near the symphysis have an indistinct double barb. 

 On each side of the palate appears a single series of small pointed 

 teeth, and in young individuals, upwards of 4 inches in length, four to 

 six similar on the vomer, which, however, very early disappear. The 

 tongue is minute and smooth ; on each side of the root rises a small 

 cluster of minute pointed teeth, and similar appear at intervals on the rest 

 of the hyoid. The angle of the mouth is situated^opposite the posterior 

 part of the left orbit. The greatest vertical diameter of the body, at 

 the second third of the total length, slightly exceeds J of the latter. 

 The lateral line commences at the inferior margin of the lower eye, which 

 it follows, and turning backwards over the upper margin of the opercle, 

 it describes a low arch which terminates opposite the middle of the 

 dorsal. From thence it proceeds straight along the middle, to the 

 point of the posterior margin of the caudal. The line is a little raised, 

 and is on each scale composed of three small tubes : a central, from 

 which an upper and lower diverge backwards. The greatest vertical 

 diameter contains from 55 to 57 series of scales ; the lateral line, from 

 the opercle to the root of the caudal, 69 to 71 scales. The scales are 

 small rounded, with 12 to 15 radiating lines at the radical portion and 

 indistinctly ciliated in the centre of the posterior margin. The dorsal 

 fin commences behind the upper orbit at a distance of one longitudinal 

 diameter, and terminates at an equal distance from the caudal. The 

 9 or 10 anterior rays are undivided ; the longest, towards the middle 

 of the fin, are 2\ in the length of the head ; all have at their anterior 

 margin a series of small scales. The anal is \ shorter than the dorsal ; 

 the two first rays are undivided ; in other respects it resembles the 

 dorsal. The root of the caudal is scaly ; the posterior margin is 

 bluntly pointed in the centre, the two rays of which, the longest, are f 

 of the head. The right ventral is situated a little in front of the pec- 

 toral, much nearer the gill-opening than the first anal ray ; the two 



7 p 



