1278 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Dec. 



had fed on a gelatinous substance which at that season exudes from 

 the beautifully coloured coral reefs on that part of the coast of Suma- 

 tra. It is, however, more probable that the poisonous fishes were 

 shoals of Meletta venenosa, an inhabitant of the Seychelles and the 

 neighbouring seas, which happened in those seasons to visit Sumatra. 

 M. Valenciennes describes this fish as being poisonous, and producing 

 effects as noted above. In the Straits of Malacca Clupeonia perforata 

 has never been known to produce bad effects. 



Gen. Kowala, Valenciennes, 1847. 



Minute teeth in the jaws and on the pterygoid bones; tongue, 

 vomer and palatals* toothless. 



Kowala thoracata, Cuv. and Val. 



Russell, CLXXXVI. Kowal. 



Clupea kowal, Riippell : Neue Wirbelth. Fische, 79. 1 



Kowala thoracata, Cuv. and Val. XX. 363. 



Head above and back deep blue with green reflections ; upper third 

 of the sides silvery sea-green ; rest of the body, cheeks and opercles 

 shining silvery with mother-of-pearl reflections ; upper part of the opercle 

 pale bluish dotted with black ; dorsal and caudal pale yellow greenish, 

 sparingly dotted with black, particularly towards the margin ; in some 

 individuals a vertical elongated blackish spot at the root of the five 

 central rays ; rest of the fins white. Tongue and inside of the mouth 

 minutely dotted with black. Iris silvery, orbital margin black. 



D 19, C 19f, A 21 or 22, V 8, P 15, Br. VI. 



Habit. — Sea ofPinang. 



Coromandel, Red Sea. 



Total length : 5f inch. 



The length of the head is } of the body, £ of the total length. The 

 horizontal diameter of the eye slightly exceeds ^ of the length of the 

 head ; the distance across the forehead is § of the diameter. The eye 

 is covered by a thick adipose duplicature with a vertically elliptic aper- 

 ture over the circular pupil ; it occupies the middle of the distance 

 between the muzzle and the posterior margin of the opercle, and bor- 



* Minute teeth, deciduous like the rest, appear on the palatals of the two spe- 

 cies described. 



