1 849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 1317 



reflections, lighter on the sides and abdomen ; throat pale livid ; dorsal-, 

 caudal- and anal- membranes pale carmine. 



D 0] 



C 10 V 



r Br. VI. 

 A Oj 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang. 



Total length : 8f inch. 



The head is conical, depressed, with rounded muzzle, swelling 

 towards the occiput ; the body is cylindrical with the sides slightly 

 compressed, of nearly equal diameter ; the short, tapering tail is greatly 

 compressed like a two-edged sword. The length of the head, from the 

 muzzle to the gill-opening, is contained 8J to 8f times in the total. 

 The eye, a minute black speck, is situated nearly opposite the middle 

 of the lip ; its distance from the muzzle is \ of the length of the head. 

 That from the muzzle to the angle of the mouth is ^ of the length of 

 the head. The minute anterior nasal apertures are situated on each 

 side of the muzzle ; their magins are raised, not tubular. The larger, 

 posterior apertures are situated obliquely above the eyes ; they are of 

 a lanceolate form, with the broader part in front of and on a higher level 

 than the eye, and with the apex extending downwards and outwards to 

 the supraorbital margin. The lips are membranous, the under one 

 reverted over the lower jaw, which is very little shorter than the upper. 

 The teeth are all blunt and minute, yet there is a perceptible difference 

 in their length. Each branch of the upper jaw carries a series of ex- 

 cessively fine, almost setaceous teeth, which under the symphysis 

 become crowded and form a small triangular figure. The base of both 

 triangles is bordered by three teeth larger than the rest, and separated 

 by a naked longitudinal interval. The palatal teeth are longer than 

 the preceding, and are placed in a single close series, uninterrupted on 

 the vomer. The teeth of the lower jaw are a little stronger than the 

 palatal, and appear truncated ; both branches carry a single series ; 

 both coalesce on the symphysis where they expand in a semilunar band, 

 three or four teeth deep. The fleshy tongue is elongated, conical, with 

 rounded apex, extending to the symphysis ; it is moveable by means of 

 a lax frsenulum. The margins are thickened, rounded, forming a lon- 

 gitudinal groove along the upper surface of the tongue. Between the 

 upper extremity of the hyoid bone and that of the anterior branchial 



