1258 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Dec. 



The peritoneum is silvery ; the stomach elongated, pyriform, thin and 

 capable of enormous expansion ; the fundus is arched, and separated 

 from the rest by a constriction. The intestinal canal is narrow cylin- 

 drical, scarcely \ of the total length. At the pylorus appears a series of 

 22 gradually decreasing ccecal appendages. The liver and spleen are 

 very small. The fish is of most voracious habits, gorging itself 

 with its own species and other fishes of nearly its own size, and Crus- 

 tacea (shrimps). It is frequently taken with the stomach and the 

 jaws expanded with prey. It is very short-lived, more so than either 

 of the two preceding species, and the whole body becomes at certain 

 seasons brilliantly phosphorescent. In the Straits of Malacca it is at 

 all times very numerous, although less so than it is at the Sandheads 

 or in the mouths of the Ganges. Although very rich, it is a great 

 delicacy immediately after it is taken. Salted and dried it is also 

 highly valued, and in this state it occurs in commerce under the deno- 

 mination of " Bombay Bucks" (" Bummalok" in Bengal), large quan- 

 tities of which are annually exported from Bombay and the Malabar 

 coast to all parts of India. 



FAM. CLUPEOIME. 



Gen. Chirocentrtjs, (Cuvier y 1817) Valenciennes, 1846. 



Body compressed, elongated, with small deciduous scales ; abdomen 

 trenchant, but not toothed ; dorsal placed far back towards the tail, 

 opposite the anal ; pectorals pointed ; in the axilla a bony, triangular, 

 elongated appendage ; ventrals excessively small ; intermaxillary and 

 upper maxillary with a single series of pointed horizontal teeth, of 

 which one on each side of the symphysis longer than the rest ; an ob- 

 lique series of 5 or 6 card-like teeth on the palatals ; a small oval 

 group of velvety teeth on the anterior pterygoid, and some on the 

 ala major ; on each branch of the lower jaw a single series of long, but 

 unequal teeth, compressed, trenchant, lance-shaped ; a single series of 

 minute conical teeth along the margin of the tongue, on the hyoid 

 bone and the margin of the branchial arches. Branchiostegous rays 

 eight. 



