1274 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Dec. 



Gen. Raconda, Gray.* 

 Dorsal fin none ; rest like Pristigaster. 



Raconda russelliana, Gray. 

 Raconda russelliana, Gray: Zool, Miscell. 9. 

 (Icon.) Apterygia ramcarate, Gray : 111. Ind. Zool. II. PI. 92, Fig. 1. 

 Pristogaster (Apterygia) Swainson, I. 277. 

 Apterygia hamiltonii, Cuv. and Val. XX. 333. 

 Head above and back deep blue, upper third of the sides polished 

 copper-coloured ; rest of head and body shining silvery with mother-of- 

 pearl reflections. Behind the upper part of the opercle a black spot ; 

 caudal pale yellowish minutely dotted with black, particularly towards 

 the posterior margin ; anal and pectoral rays yellowish or white, mem- 

 branes hyaline. Iris silvery, orbital margin blackish blue. 

 D 0, C 19f, A 83 or 84, V 0, P 12, Br. VI. 

 Habit. — Sea of Pinang, Malayan Peninsula t Singapore. 



Bay of Bengal, Mouths of Ganges. 

 Total length : 8 inch. 



The length of the head is 6 J in the total. The horizontal diameter 

 of the eye is 3^ in the length of the head ; the distance across the 

 forehead is § of the diameter. The eye occupies the middle of the 

 length of the head, and is situated close to the concave profile without 

 bordering upon it. The infraorbital is narrow, elongated, much too 

 short to cover the maxillary. The intermaxillaries are short, narrow, 

 linear and fixed transversely across the muzzle. The upper maxillary 

 bone is much longer and broader than in Pristigaster tartoore ; when 

 the mouth is opened it projects beyond the throat, and when closed it 



* What has been published of this species appears to be confined to the figure 

 in Hardwicke's Must, of Ind. Zool. of Apterygia ramcarate, and a very short 

 notice in Zoological Miscellany. But for the absence of the dorsal fin, the resem- 

 blance to Pristigaster tartoore, Cuvier, (Russell, CXCIII. Tartoore,) is so striking, 

 that it is not surprising, that M. Valenciennes should have considered the unde- 

 scribed figure of Apterygia ramcarate ("hamiltonii" as quoted in Hist, des 

 Poiss. XX. 333,) to represent a mutilated specimen of Pristigaster tartoore. The 

 following is Mr. Gray's description of Raconda russelliana : " Silvery ; Saugar 

 Roads. A species distinguished from the want of the fin by the fishermen ; there 

 are two specimens in British Museum, neither shewing the slightest indication of 

 that organ." (Zool. Miscell. 1. c.) 



