FAMILY, I— PERCIDJE. 9 



1. Cromileptes altivelis, Plate I, fig. 2. 



Serranus altivelis, Cuv. and Val. ii, p. 324, pi. 35 ; Richards. Ich. China, p. 230 ; Bleeker, Perc. p. 33 ; 

 Cantor, Catal. p. 10 ; Griinther, Catal. i, p. 152 ; Kner, Denks. Ak. Wiss. Wien. xxiv. t. i, f. 1. 



Cromileptes altivelis, Swains. Fish, ii, p. 201 ; Bleeker, Atl. Ich. Perc. t. 44, f . 3 & Epinephelini, p. 26. 



B. vii, D. ifrH, P. 18, Y. 1/5, A. t l, c. 17, L. r. Wm>, L- ^. 36/—. 



Length of head 2/7, of caudal about 1/5, height of body 2/7 of the total length. Eyes — diameter from 

 1/5 to 2/11 of the length of head, rather above 1 diameter from the end of snout, and 3/4 of a diameter apart. 

 Upper profile of head concave. Mouth elongated and pointed, with the lower jaw much the longer. The 

 maxilla reaches to below the last third of the orbit. Vertical limb of preopercle serrated ; its lower limb, also sub- 

 and inter-opercles entire. Opercular spines not well developed. Teeth — villiform in the jaws, the outer row in 

 the maxilla, and inner in mandibles rather larger than the rest. Fins — dorsal spines moderately strong, the last 

 being slightly longer than those preceding it, but only 2/3 or 3/4 as high as the highest dorsal ray ; soft portions 

 of dorsal and anal fins angularly rounded, and much elevated : pectoral as long as the head : ventrals reach 

 the anus : second anal spine stronger than but not quite so long as the third : caudal fan-shaped. Scales — cycloid, 

 about 22 rows between the base of the sixth dorsal spine, and the lateral-line. Colours — head and body greyish 

 becoming lighter on the abdomen : fins grey : everywhere covered with round, black, white-edged spots, those 

 on the body, dorsal, and caudal fins being the largest. Bleeker observes that the magnitude, and number of the 

 spots varies with the size of the specimen. 



Habitat. — Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and China. The specimen figured was taken at the 

 Nlcobars by the late Dr. Stoliczka. It is about 9 inches in length. Cuv. and Yal. type skin has only 10 spines 

 as in this case exists in my specimen. 



Genus 3 — Seeeahtjs,* Cuv. 



Epinephelus, sp. Bloch : Cephalopholis, sp. Bl. Schn. : Paraserranus and Serfanichthys, Blkr. : Labroperca, 

 Mycteroperca, Bodianus, Enneacentrus, Petrometopon, Pronvicrops, Schistorus, and Menephorus, Gill : Prospinus, 

 Poey : Priacanthichthys,-f Day. 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchiai. Eyes lateral, of moderate size. Preopercle with its vertical limb 

 more or less serrated, its horizontal one generally entire, operate ivith two or three flat spines. Teeth villiform in tlie 

 iavjs, vomer, and palate : canines present. Tongue smooth. Dorsal fin single, having from eight to twelve spines : 

 anal with three : caudal cut square, obliquely, emarginate, or rounded. Scales small, ctenoid or cycloid. Pyloric 

 appendages many, in moderate numbers, or few. 



" Cavolini and Cuvier have, after repeated examinations, described the smooth Serranus (S. cabrilla), and 

 some other species of this genus as true hermaphrodites, one portion of each lobe of roe consisting of true ova, 

 the other part having all the appearance of a perfect milt, and both advancing to maturity simultaneously. A 

 structure of a different kind which must be considered as accidental, has been observed by others in the perch, 

 mackerel, carp, cod, whiting, and sole. This occasional malformation, to speak in a popular phrase, consists of a 

 lobe of hard female roe on one side, and of soft male roe on the other side of the same fish."J 



The colour of these fishes, which varies so extensively in the same species, can hardly be accepted as a 

 trustworthy guide for grouping. The form of the preopercle is not invariably identical in every specimen 

 of the same species, or even on the opposite sides of a fish : whilst a spine is occasionally present at its angle 

 in the immature, becoming more or less absorbed in the adult. The sub- and inter-opercles may be serrated or 

 smooth in the same species as observed in Serranus boenack. The fins also alter with age, owing to the spines 

 not increasing in leng-th so rapidly as the rays, consequently they may be comparatively shorter in the adult 

 than in the young. Even the rays in the mature fish are found less in their proportionate height to the entire 

 length of the specimen, than they are in the immature. The same thing occurs in respect to the anal spines, 

 the second is sometimes the longest in the immature but becomes shorter than the third, in the mature, and this 

 appears to be most frequent when the second spine is the strongest, augmenting in thickness whilst the third 

 increases in length. Occasionally there is an excess of one spine and a deficiency of a ray in the dorsal fin, the 

 first of the rays having apparently taken on a spinous character, as is seen more distinctly in some of the 

 Spaeim:. The numbers of rows of scales is very important amongst these fishes, as so ably pointed out by 

 Bleeker, and many a mistake in identification would have been saved, had his plan been adopted, which is to 

 give the numbers of transverse rows going to the lateral-line from both above and below. As an example I 

 would point to the Serranus Sonnerati, so easily distinguished when this plan is followed, but apparently so 

 difficult where it is not attended to. 



Geographical distribution. — The seas of temperate and tropical regions. The members of this genus in 

 India may be considered as entirely marine, a few, it is true, ascend rivers, not for breeding but predaeeous 

 purposes, restricting their range, however, to within tidal influence. 



* Pishes of this genus are termed Cullawali, Tarn. 



t In the Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 193, 1 described PriacanthicWiys Hademspatensis as the type of a new genns having a long 

 serrated spine at the angle of the preopercle, and also a serrated ventral one, D. -J-i, A. f, L. 1. 70, L. r. above 100. Dark violet, with 

 two light blue longitudinal bands. Dr. Gunther suggests that it is the young of Serranus latifasciatus, Temm. & Schleg. which is by 

 no means improbable, my largest specimen having been under two inches in length. 



% Yarrell, British Fishes, i, p. 11. 



C 



