1342 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes, [Dec. 



file to the muzzle, the lower ascends to a little in front of the eye and 

 then proceeds parallel to the upper branch. The main trunk at 

 first ascends obliquely, but soon descends with 3 to 4 short undula- 

 tions to a little in front of the posterior dorsal, from whence it conti- 

 nues in the middle of the side and terminates at the apex of the scaly 

 part of the caudal. The vertical diameter at the upper lips slightly 

 exceeds \ of the length of the head ; at the dorsal spine it is a little 

 less than £ ; the greatest, between the two dorsals is ^ ; at the root of 

 the caudal it is a little less than ^ of the head. The greatest horizon- 

 tal diameter, or thickness of the body, is a little behind the anterior 

 dorsal fin, where it equals If diameters of the eye ; from thence it gra- 

 dually decreases and becomes trenchant towards the tail like the entire 

 abdominal part of the fish. A single mutilated individual was observed 

 at Singapore in May 1843 ; five others, of which the smallest mea- 

 sured 8 inches in length, occurred at Pinang in the following Novem- 

 ber, in February and August and December 1844, and in June 1845. 

 After death the colour of the body changes to a dusty pale reddish 

 brown, dotted with black, the caudal membrane turns pale bluish grey ; 

 the arched lax skin of the throat shrivels up, so as scarcely to be 

 visible. 



Gen. Triacanthus, Cuvier, 1817. 



With a kind of ventrals, each supported by a single large spinous 

 ray, adhering to a not salient pelvis ; anterior dorsal with three or four 

 small spines behind a very large one ; skin covered with crowded small 

 scales ; tail longer than in the other sub-genera. 



Triacanthus biaculeatus, (Bloch.) 



Balistes biaculeatus, Bloch, Tab. 148, Fig. 2. 



Russell, XXI. Bowree, or Abatoo. 



Balistes biaculeatus, Shaw, V. 415, PI. 169. 



Triacanthus biaculeatus, Cuv. R. A. II. 374 ( 5 ). 



Triacanthus biaculeatus, Bennett: Life of Raffles, 693. 



Balistes biaculeatus, Bennett: Fishes of Ceylon, No. 15, (Young.) 



Triacanthus biaculeatus, Swainson, II. 326. 



Triacanthus biaculeatus, Richardson : Rep. 1845, 202. 



Triacanthus biaculeatus, Bleeker : Verh. Batav. Gen. XXII. 6. 





