1242 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Nov. 



black, margin blackish ; rest of the fins white ; upper half between an- 

 terior four rays of ventrals dotted with black ; upper surface of pecto- 

 rals and posterior half of lower black, in the axilla a black spot along the 

 root of pectorals ; jaws and root of the long cirrus-like maxillary pro- 

 longation blackish bronze, rest of the latter reddish white ; adipose fin 

 greenish olive dotted with black, posterior margin white. Iris greenish 

 golden dotted with black. 



D 1/7—1 (adipose), C 15f, A 21, V 6, P 1/10, Br. V. 



Cirri A 



Habit. — Sea and estuaries of Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 



Sea and estuaries of Malabar, Coromandel ; estuaries of 



Ganges and Irawaddy. 



Total length : 1 foot 6 inch. 



The length of the head is \\ in the total. It is completely covered 

 by smooth skin, and but a few granulations appear on the anterior part 

 of the elliptic interparietal. The rest of the bone, like the opercles, is 

 radiated ; it occupies \ of the distance from the muzzle. The hori- 

 zontal diameter of the eye is \ of the length of the head ; the distance 

 across the forehead is about three such diameters. The card-like teeth 

 of the jaws are on broad bands ; that of the upper one is the shorter, 

 as it does not reach to the angle of the mouth, but terminates at the 

 root of the bony cirrus-like elongation of the upper maxillary bone. 

 The latter is slender, elastic, flattened with a shallow furrow on each 

 side ; its length equals the head ; the anterior sixth is attached to the 

 side of the head by a small triangular membrane which is, however, too 

 short to admit of the bone being projected at a right angle. The 

 palatal teeth are granular, placed in two separated groups of an irregular 

 rhomboidal shape. The vertical diameter of the body, in front of the 

 dorsal, is f of the length of the head. The dorsal spine is slender, the 

 lower half of the anterior margin is finely granulated, the upper half 

 and the posterior margin are very finely toothed ; it is a little shorter 

 than the first ray which is f of the length of the head. The pectoral 

 spine resembles the dorsal and is but a little shorter. The extent of 

 the anal is \ of the length of the body ; the eighth, the longest ray, 

 slightly exceeding \ of the extent. The extent of the adipose fin 

 is about \ of the anal, but of nearly equal height. The caudal is 



