FAMILY, I— PERCID^E. 83 



Habitat. — Red Sea, East coast of Africa, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago arid beyond. The 

 specimen is figured life-size. 



7. Diagramma punctatum, Plate XXI, fig. 4. 



(Ehren.) Cuv. and Val. v, p. 302 ; Temm. and Schleg. Fauna Japon. p. 60, pi. xxvi, A ; Riipp. Atl. 

 Fische, p. 126, t. 32, f. 2, and N. W. Fische, p. 125 ; Quoy and Gaim. Voy. Astrol. Poiss. p. 699, pi. xii, fig. 2 ; 

 Giinther, Catal. i, p. 323 ; Kner, Novara, Fische, p. 54; Klunzing. Verh. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1870, p. 734 (part;. 



Diagramma cinerascens, Cuv. and Val. v, p. 307 ; Rupp. Atl. p. 127. 



? Diagramma centurio, Cuv. and Val. v, p. 308; Playfair, Fish. Zanz. p. 27. 



Flectorhynchus punctatus, Bleeker, Ceram. p. 187 and. Atl. Ich. Perc. t. xxii, f. 1. 



B. vii, D. yfi^a, P. 17, V 1/5, A. f, C. 17, L. r. W=W. L - tr - 15 / 20 - 



Length of head from 4/17 to 2/9, of caudal from 1/8 to 1/9, height of body 2/7 of the total length. 

 Eyes — diameter from 2/9 to 1/4 of length of head, If to 2 diameters from end of snout, and about 1 apart. 

 Dorsal profile much more convex than that of the abdomen. The maxilla reaches to below the hind nostril. 

 Vertical border of preopercle serrated, as is also its rounded angle. Shoulder-bone serrated. Teeth — ■ 

 villiform. Fins — dorsal spines moderately strong, the second and third being the longest and equal to two- 

 frfths of the length of the head : second anal spine slightly the strongest but the third a little the longest : 

 caudal lunated : the distance the ventral fins extend varies considerably with the age of the fish, becoming 

 comparatively very much shorter in the larger specimens. Colours — greyish, several rows of large brilliant 

 golden spots along the upper half of the body : three short bluish bands pass from the eye across the 

 opercle, and two more in the same direction between the eye and the angle of the mouth, these bands are 

 continued on to the body between the rows of spots. Two rows of brownish spots dashed with yellow 

 exist on the hard dorsal as well as a light longitudinal band : soft dorsal with similar spots much wider than the 

 ground colour : caudal the same : anal and ventral likewise spotted, the latter being greyish externally : pectoral 

 golden. 



In a specimen 27| inches in length the colouring varied, it being of an uniform greyish-brown, some small 

 ill-defined spots on the soft dorsal : the caudal covered with small circular brown marks as well as the outer half 

 of the anal : ventral externally greyish. 



Bleeker (Revis. Plector. p. 301) considers D. pictum and D. punctatum as the young and adult of one 

 species, the colours and the form of the dorsal changing with age. My specimens however show D. picbwm 

 (figured life-size) with L. r. JLg-g, and D. punctatum (at 10 inches in length, PL xxi, fig. 4), with L. r. 1 §-§-, and a 

 specimen 2 1\ inches with L. r. 1 -§-§. But Dr. Bleeker having, as he observes, 43 specimens which show the 

 gradations, make one very doubtful whether this species may not be the adult of pictum. 



Habitat. — Red Sea, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. 



8. Diagramma picoides. 

 Peters, Monatsb. Akad. Wiss. Berl. 1866, p. 94. 

 B. vii, D. if, P. 17, V. 1/5, A. f, C. 17, L. 1. 100, L. r. fHb L. tr. 16-17/31-32. 



Length of head 2/9, of caudal nearly 1/7, height of body 4/17 of the total length. Eyes — diameter 

 2/9 of length of head, If diameters from end of snout, and If apart. Fins — the spines of the dorsal are of 

 moderate height, the third being a little more than 1/3 of the height of the body : ventral spine longer than the 

 third of the dorsal fin : the second anal spine is slightly longer and much stronger than the third, and one-third 

 longer than the highest in the dorsal fin. Colours — upper 1/2 of body black with four large light blotches, one 

 being over the snout : a second across the nape : a third under the commencement of the dorsal rays, and the 

 last over the free portion of the tail. The white colour of the abdomen is divided in a zig-zag or wavy line 

 from the black of the back. On the tail where there is a row of black spots, the white colour merges into the 

 upper spot. Dorsal fin with a black base and upper edge, and having a white median longitudinal band. The 

 anal and caudal with irregular black spots. 



Habitat. — A dried example nearly 12 inches long was obtained by Lamare Pigout, most probably in the 

 East Indies, but it might have come from the Mauritius, or even the Cape of Good Hope. 



Genus, 20 — Lobotes, Cuv. 



Branchiostegals six : pseudobranchice. Body and fins somewhat elevated : upper profile of head concave. 

 Eyes rather small. Mouth moderately protractile, its cleft oblique, lower jaw the longer. Opercle with obtuse points : 

 preopercle serrated. Villiform teeth in the jaws having an external enlarged and somewhat conical row, but without 

 canines : palate edentulous. One dorsal fin with twelve stout splines : anal with three : caudal rounded. Scales 

 ctenoid, of moderate size, extended over the head. Air-vessel simple, without any constriction. 



Geographical distribution. — Seas of India, China, and Atlantic coasts of America. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Lobotes Surinamensis, Bloch, D. yj-y-g-, A. tt-T3> ^- 1- 48. Brassy-brown blotched with darker. East 

 coast of Africa, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



n 2 



