FAMILY, I— PERCID^E. 



•j 7 



comparative size with the liead as age advances, as occurs in Megalops cyprmoides, &c. The first few dorsal 

 spines may be compressed or rounded : and the second and third slightly or very elongate, but this elongation 

 often varies considerably, as seen in G. filamentosus, in which it may be only two-thirds the height of the body 

 or even extending so far as the base of the caudal fin, and though this difference is generally, it is not always 

 due to age, but in the young it is mostly shorter than in the adult. Even in the anal spines the second may be 

 equal in length to the third or a little longer or shorter in the same species. As regards colour the young are 

 generally vertically banded, and these bands may be indistinct or even entirely absent in the adult. In those 

 with longitudinal bands they sometimes become interrupted in large specimens, showing rows of long oval 

 blotches or marks placed one over the other, the reason usually being that these marks are apparent in the 

 adult where the vertical bands existed in the immature. 



SYNOPSIS OF SPECIES. 



1. Gerres setifer, D. \%, A. ■§-, L. 1 38, L. tr. 5/10. Preopercle serrated along its lower limb. Highest 

 dorsal spine 2/5 of that of body. Silvery, a narrow dark edge to spinous dorsal, and a brown spot on the 

 middle of each ray. Hooghly. 



2. Gerres ohlongus, D. -j^-, A. f, L. 1. 48-50. Highest dorsal spine 3/4 of that of the body. Silvery. 

 Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



3. Gerres filamentosus, D. -f^, A. f-, L. 1. 45-48. Highest dorsal spine elongated sometimes reaching the 

 caudal fin. Silvery, with rows of short, oblong, horizontal, bluish spots along the upper half of the body : a spot 

 at the base or centre of each dorsal spine and ray. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



4. Gerres oyena, D. j%-, A. f-, L. 1. 38-40, L. tr. 5/10. Highest dorsal spine as long as head excluding the 

 snout. Red Sea, through those of India, to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. 



5. Gerres lucidus, D. j%, A. -f, L. 1. 41, L. tr. 5/10. Highest dorsal spine two-fifths as high as the body. 

 Dorsal fin with a black blotch, a dark spot on each spine and ray just above the sheath. Seas of India. 



6. Gen-es abbreviatus, D. ^ A. f, L. 1. 37-40, L. tr. 6/11. Highest dorsal spine almost as long as the 

 head : pectoral long. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago. 



7. Gerres poeti, D. -f^, A. f, L. 1. 40, L. tr. 6/11. Highest dorsal spine as long as the head excluding the 

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



■ 8. Gerres Iwibatus, D. T B T , A. f, L. 1. 35, L. tr. 4/10. Highest dorsal spine as long as the head behind 

 the middle of the orbit. Seas of India. 



1. Gerres setifer, Plate XXV, fig 



Chanda (?) setifer* Ham. Buch. Fish. Ganges, pp. 105, 370. 

 Gerres altispinis, Giinther, Catal. iv, p. 258. 



1. 



Chanda, (?) setifer, (H. Buchanan's MSS. figure). 



B. vi, D. A£, P. 17, V. 1/5, A. f, C. 19, L. 1. 38, L. tr. 5/10. 



Length of head 4/17 to 1/4, of caudal 1/5, height of body 1/3 of the total length. Eyes— diameter 1/3 of 

 length of head, nearly 1 diameter from end of snout, and 1 apart. The groove for the posterior process of the 

 premaxillary reaches to opposite the first third of the orbit, it is posteriorly rounded and scaleless. The maxilla 



* Buchanan observes of his Cenus, Chanda. or "Silvery fishes," that "the first (Chanda setifer) has the strongest affinity to 

 the Zeus insidiator, so that all of them no doubt belong to the same genus with that fish, although I cannot help thinking that, to 

 include them in the same genus with Zeus ciliaris and Zeus faber is an unnatural arrangement" (Buchanan 1. c. p. 103), "as in the 

 genera already described there are, as it were, certain intermediate species, so in this the two first (Clianda setifer and C. ruconius) 

 * * * have but little of the transparency, which forms part of the generic character" (1. c. p. 104). 







