1366 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Dec. 



Adult. Head and body burnished reddish golden, or bronze ; back 

 and upper half of the sides paler blackish than in the young ; as also 

 the spots of the fins. Iris coloured like the body, bluish black towards 

 the orbit. 



D 35 or 36, C 9f, A 28 or 29, P 17, Br. V. . 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang. 



River Sarawak (Borneo). 



Total length : 10 inch. 



The general form is elongated pyriform, laterally compressed. The 

 profile rises obliquely to between the eyes, from which it is nearly 

 straight to the dorsal, when it greatly slopes towards the caudal. The 

 abdominal profile is much more bulging ; from the throat to opposite 

 the pectorals it descends obliquely ; from thence it rapidly ascends to 

 the caudal. The cranial bones are soldered together and form a 

 smooth helmet, arched from side to side, in shape somewhat resembling 

 that of Plotosus albilabris, Cuv. and Val. The anterior extremity of 

 the helmet is constricted and divided in two diverging narrow points 

 formed by the anterior frontal bones, which behind border the depres- 

 sion containing the nostril. From thence the lateral margin is convex 

 forming the supraorbital margin, when it deviates obliquely inwards and 

 backwards, and terminates on the side of the occiput in a broad tri- 

 angular point. From the centre of the posterior margin projects along 

 the back a narrow occipital crest. The outline of the helmet resem- 

 bles a broad arrow-head with bifid point. The distance from the muzzle 

 to the point of the occipital crest equals that to the gill-opening, which 

 is contained 3^- times in the total length. Measured from the centre 

 between the anterior two points, the length of the helmet is ± of the 

 total, and of this distance the occipital crest itself is |. The eye, 

 bordering on the cranial helmet and on a level with the upper part of 

 the gill-opening, is situated in front of the centre of the distance 

 between the muzzle and the gill-opening ; the horizontal diameter is £ of 

 the length of the head. The distance between the anterior orbital 

 angles across the helmet is 1|-, between the posterior 2£ diameter. 

 In front of the anterior orbital angle appears a single large nostril, which 

 is oval, with a lax membrane, notched at the anterior part. The jaws 

 are nearly equal ; the teeth and the tongue normal. The form of the 

 dorsal is broad triangular, with the posterior part truncated a little 



