1348 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Dec. 



Young. (Without spines ; 1 inch in length.) Upper surface and 

 sides pale greenish yellow, with a sky-blue central spot in some of the 

 hexagons, and here and there with a single brown spot ; abdomen light 

 reddish yellow ; generally with a single brown spot on the throat, and 

 one or two on the anterior part of the lateral margin ; fins hyaline. 



Older. Upper surface and sides pale greenish olive, minutely dotted 

 with black, with a central sky-blue spot in each hexagon ; abdomen 

 yellowish white ; fins transparent pale olive ; caudal minutely dotted 

 with black ; posterior half blackish ; spines buff, minutely dotted with 

 black. Iris bright yellow, orbital margin orange or red ; pupil ob- 

 liquely oval, irridescent black. 



D9, C8|, A 9, P 11, Br. VI. 



Habit. — Sea of Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 

 Chinese Seas, Canton, Japan. 



Total length : 6 inch. 



The form of the body is tetragonal, with the lower surface broader 

 than the upper, and the sides concave. The length of the head is \ of 

 the total. The forehead is at a nearly right angle with the vertex ; the 

 vertical diameter through the eye, the greatest of the body, is contained 

 3£ times in the total length ; that through the gill-opening is a little 

 shorter ; at the termination of the armour it is 5f times in the total length. 

 The eye is situated close to the frontal angle ; the greatest oblique 

 diameter is J of the length of the head. Above each eye rises a subular, 

 forwards, upwards and outwards directed spine, granulated at the base ; 

 the rest finely fluted ; the length equals the head. The distance between 

 the eyes across the vertex is excavated, a little less than two diameters. 

 The nostrils have two minute, apparently papillular apertures, placed 

 in a small, nearly vertical furrow close to the anterior angle of the eye. 

 A little in front of the lower aperture appears a minute papilla. 

 Each jaw has a single series of ten small conical teeth, almost entirely 

 hid by the fleshy lips ; the teeth are of a dark amber or chestnut 

 brown ; the four above the symphysis of the lower jaw are a little 

 longer than the rest. The mouth is very small ; the tongue is minute, 

 fleshy and completely tied to the floor of the mouth ; behind the tongue 

 there is a small raised step, leading into a tunnel, on each side sup- 

 ported by the four branchial arches. The sides of the back are angular, 

 a little contracted in the middle. A little in front of the dorsal, at the 



