1849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1315 



coast of Pinang in May 1845 ; a second, a little shorter than the for- 

 mer, was taken the following July in fresh water. 



Gen. Leptocephalus, Gronov. 1754. 



Head small and short ; teeth numerous ; pectoral fins and gill-open- 

 ing very small ; body compressed and very thin, tape-like ; dorsal and 

 anal fins small, united at the tail, forming a point. 



A species of this genus was found in the stomach of Johnius dia- 

 canthus, (Lacepede,) taken at Pinang. The effects of the process of 

 digestion were such as but to admit the following characters to be 

 ascertained. The colour was a semipellucid opal, exhibiting numerous, 

 somewhat distant striae, or backwards directed angles, above and beneath 

 the lateral line ; the iris was bluish silvery, the pupil circular black. 

 The vertical diameter at the occiput slightly exceeded \ of the greatest 

 one of the body, which was about y 1 ^- of the total length. The head 

 was small, with a short very pointed muzzle. The profile of the forehead 

 was oblique, meeting the horizontal one of the lower jaw, which 

 nearly equalled the length of the upper ; the length of the head was 

 contained \1\ times in the total ; the distance from the muzzle to the 

 posterior circumference of the- orbit was -§- of the length of the head. 

 On each side of the upper jaw appeared five forwards-directed, pointed 

 teeth, and in the intervals between them four smaller, similar ones. 

 Each branch of the lower jaw was armed with five teeth, somewhat 

 longer, but resembling those of the upper jaw ; minute teeth appeared 

 in the intervals between the three anterior longer ones. The roots of 

 the pectorals were all that remained, and were placed close to the abdo- 

 minal profile, immediately behind the gill-opening. The origin of the 

 dorsal and anal fins could not be traced. The total length of the fish 

 was 4f inches. From the peculiar dentition the species might be 

 named : Leptocephalus dentex. A species of Leptocephalus occurs in 

 the Bay of Bengal as far as the Sandheads.* 



* Mr. McClelland quotes the Gen. Leptocephalus as exclusively inhabiting Great 

 Britain. {Apodal Fishes of Bengal in Calc. Journ. of Nat, Hist. V., page 226.) 



