78 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



3. Diagramma Orientate, D. ty-Vsj -A- f- Yellowish-white, with four or five complete or interrupted 

 chestnut bands. Red Sea, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



4. Diagramma cinctum, D. -j-|-tt, A. -f-. Slatey-grey, covered with large black blotches which also exist 

 on the fins. Sind, China, and Japan. 



5. Diagramma griseum, D. xil-g-f-, -A- t-t- Grey : fins blackish. East coast of Africa, seas of India. 



6. Diagramma pictum, D. zf-Hi -A-. -f. Front portion of spinous dorsal elevated. Caudal rounded. 

 Longitudinally banded. Red Sea, East coast of Africa, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



7. Diagramma punctatum, D. 2?I|-J , A. -§•. Front portion of spinous dorsal not elevated : caudal notched, 

 spotted and blotched with yellow. Red Sea, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. 



8. Diagrannma picoides, D. ^f, A. f. Four large light blotches. Indian seas. 



1. Diagramma crassispinum, Plate XX, fig. 4. 



Diagramma crassispimim, Rilppell, X. W. Fische, p. 125, t. 30, f. 4 ; Bleeker, Scisen. p. 26 ; Giinther, 

 Catal. i, p. 319 ; FJunz. Verb. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1870, p. 738. 



Pristipoma nigrum, Cantor, Catal. p. 74 ; ? Cuv. and Val. v, p. 258 ; Giinther, Catal. i, p. 289. 



Diagramma affine, Giinther, Catal. i, p. 319 ;* Playfair, Fishes of Zanzibar, p. 26. 



Diagramma nigrum, Day, Malabar Fishes, p. 23. 



Diagramma altum, Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 514 (young). 



Plectorhynchus crassispina, Bleeker, Ternate, p. 232 and Rev. Plec. 1873, p. 277. 



B. vii, D. yJJnr, P. 17, V. 1/5, A. f, C. 17, L. 1. 50-60, L. r. f£:ff, L. tr. 10/17, Case. pyl. 6. 



Length of head 2/7, of caudal 1/6, height of body in the adult 1/3 of the total length. Eyes — diameter 

 in the adult 2/9 of length of head, 1| diameters from end of snout, and more than one apart. The maxilla 

 does not reach so far in the adult as to below the front edge of the orbit. Open pores but no groove below 

 the mandible. Vertical limb of jsreopercle finely serrated in the adult, more coarsely so in the young, and its 

 angle rounded, posterior half of its horizontal limb serrated. Teeth — villiform in the jaws. Fins — dorsal 

 spines strong, the alternate ones thicker on one side, the fourth the highest, nearly equalling the length of the 

 head without the snout : pectoral rather longer than the highest dorsal spine, it reaches to rather beyond the 

 ventral, which latter extends three-fourths of the way to the anus. Second anal spine much stronger than the 

 third, it equals the highest of the dorsal fin. Free portion of tail rather longer than high at its commencement. 

 Colours — greyish, or slatey-grey, with a violet tinge over the head, and a brassy one on the body : fins nearly 

 black. A few irregular coppery spots on the body, and a tinge of the same colour over the spinous dorsal : the 

 other fins of a violet slate-colour, lightest along their centres. In the young the caudal is yellowish-white, and 

 in one specimen having a dark caudal, which I kept a few years in spirit I now find the fin nearly white, 

 the colouring matter having disappeared. 



This fish appears to alter considerably with age. The height of the body is at first equal to nearly 

 half of the total length. In some the maxilla extends to below the first third of the orbit, in others to beneath 

 the posterior nostril ; whilst the size of the eye varies in individual specimens. 



The specimen marked Diagramma crassispinum in the British Museum, received from Zanzibar, is a skin 

 under 10 inches in length, and not in a good state ; the spines are a little shorter than in a Malabar specimen 

 of the same size, irrespective of which it has several narrow black bands passing backwards and downwards 

 from the base of the dorsal fin over the body. 



Jerdon, M. J. L. and S. 1851, observes of Scolopsides ; " a fourth species is also found, of which, however, 

 I only saw one specimen. Its colours were inky black, with the edges of the soft dorsal white, and the caudal 

 pale yellowish- white. It was called Tawooloo pinnel." The figure is amongst Sir W. Elliot's collection named 

 as above by Jerdon, and is this species. 



Halitat. — Red Sea, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. It attains two feet or more in 

 length and is good eating. 



2. Diagramma lineatum, Plate XX, fig. 5. 



Scicena lineata, Linn. Mus, Ad, Frid. t. xxxi, f. 4. 



Perca diagramma et lineata, Gmel. Linn. p. 1319, 



Grammistes lineatus, Bl. Schn, p. 186. 



Diagramma lineatum, Cuv. and Val. v, p. 309 : Bleeker, Amboina, iv, p. 112 ; Giinther, Catal. i, p. 330 ; 

 Klunz. Verh. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1870, p. 735. 



Diagramma Lessonii, Cuv. and Val. v, p. 313 ; Less. Voy. Coq. Zool. ii, p. 119, pi. 24 ; Bleeker, Bat. 

 p. 463 : Giinther, Catal. i, p. 329, and Fische d, Sudsee, p. 28, t. xxiii. 



Diagramma albovittatum, Riipp. N. W. Fische, p. 125, t. xxxi, fig. 2 ; Bleeker, Makass. p. 46 ; Giinther, 

 Catal. i, p. 330 ; Klunz. 1. c. p. 736. 



Plectorhynchus lineatus, Bleeker, Atl. Ich. Perc. t. xxviii, f. 4, Ternate, p. 232 and Revis. Plector. p. 286. 



Plectorhynchus Lessoni, Bleeker, Atl. Ich, Perc, t. xxxix, fig. 3 and Revis. Plector. p. 288. 



Plectorhynchus albovittatus, Bleeker, Revis. Plector. p. 280. 



* References to the plates and figures cited in the British Museum Catalogue are omitted as misleading, for such hare not 

 been published, and the figures do not now exist. 



