1380 • Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Dec. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang. 



Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, Jeddah, (Red Sea.) 



All the descriptions of this species have been taken from young 

 individuals. According to Gmelin it attains a length of about 15 ft. 

 The largest specimen quoted above is a female, collected at Madras by 

 W. Elliot, Esq. The length of the body is 2 ft., of the tail 3 ft. 7 

 inch, the proportion of the latter is therefore less than in younger 

 individuals, where the tail forms § of the total length. The scales are 

 rhombic, with a strong central keel and with 2 to 6 denticulations on 

 each of the two anterior margins. In smaller individuals the scales 

 are broad lanceolate, the central keel terminating in a sharp point, but 

 the posterior margins are either not at all, or indistinctly denticulated. 

 With age the seven raised keels become more distinct. Mr. Elliot has 

 observed this species frequenting the shoals off the coast of Madras 

 feeding on Molluscs. The stomach of several, dissected by him, con- 

 tained large quantities of molluscous bodies, many of which with the 

 opercula of different species of Turbinidce attached. In a single young 

 female, taken at Pinang in August 1845, the stomach contained 

 remains of small Crustacea. Gmelin describes this species as feeding 

 on Crustacea and Testacea. In a young individual 3 ft. in length, 

 the male appendages did not exceed one half of the internal margins 

 of the ventral fins. The Varieties, described by M. M. Midler and 

 Henle, are but individual variations of the infantile livery. 



Fam. NYCTITANTIDiE. 



A. without spiracles. 

 Gen. Carcharias, (Rafinesque, 1310,) Midler und Henle, 1841. 



Snout flattened, more or less rounded, moderately long. Nostrils 

 in the centre between the mouth and the point of the snout, or nearer 

 the mouth, at the lateral margin of the snout. Labial cartilage very 

 minute or absent. Ovary of the embryo communicating with a kind 

 of uterine placenta by means of plaited folds. Oviduct either smooth 

 or flocculent. 



Sub Gen. Scoliodon, Muller und Ilenle, 1837. 



Teeth of upper and lower jaw similar, but in the upper jaw appears 

 an odd central tooth, trenchant, with the point directed outwards, but 



