1849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1233 



purple gloss ; lower half of the sides, abdomen, cheeks and opercles 

 light silvery ultramarine, minutely dotted with black ; dorsal, ventrals 

 and pectorals black ; pectoral rays silvery sky-blue ; caudal yellowish 

 white, at the root bluish dotted with black ; anterior half of ventrals 

 hyaline, posterior black, base blue, Iris silvery, orbital half bluish 

 black. 



D 11, 12 or 13, C 15|, A 8, 9 or 10, V 6, P 15, Br. XI. 



Habit. — Sea ofPinang. 

 China Sea. 



Total length : 3 inch. 



The length of the head is 5 \ in the total, measured to the point of 

 the lower caudal lobe. The horizontal diameter of the eye is | of the 

 length of the head. The arch of the roof of the orbit makes the mid- 

 dle of the forehead appear excavated ; the distance across the forehead 

 between the posterior angles of the orbit slightly exceeds the diameter 

 of the eye ; between the anterior angles it is slightly less than the dia- 

 meter. The depth at occiput, as well as the vertical diameter in front 

 of the ventrals, is J of the length of the head. The scales of the body 

 are rather large, and so deciduous that few are in their places. The 

 lateral line and the salient line on each side of abdomen can barely be 

 traced. The teeth of both jaws are excessively minute and apparently 

 confined to the central part. Each palatal has a single external series 

 of minute teeth, and a few scattered over the surface, which appears 

 like a fine file. The teeth are probably deciduous, and so minute 

 that they cannot be seen in fresh specimens, and in dried ones only 

 by means of a powerful lens. The pharyngeal teeth are tricuspid. 

 The lower margin of the horizontal part of the preopercle is toothed. 

 The length of the pectorals differs individually : they do not exceed % 

 of the head and body, (the caudal not included). The ventrals are ^ 

 of the total length ; the lower caudal lobe is A\ in the total length, the 

 upper one but slightly exceeds £ of the former. The intestinal canal is 

 wide at oesophagus, gradually narrowing in its straight course towards 

 the anus. Its length is scarcely J of the total. The liver consists 

 of a single small lobe. The white air-vessel is comparatively very large, 

 thin, elongated, its length slightly exceeding ^ of the total. The 

 peritoneum is silvery, sparingly dotted with black. In the course of 

 four years ten individuals were obtained at Pinang. They occur- 



7 t 2 



