244 TELEOSTEI. ACANTHOPTEBYGII. 



keel along either side of base of caudal fin. Colour pinkish, with 

 a tinge of blue along the abdomen ; dorsal and caudal rays spotted ; 

 pectoral grey along the middle, and the whole of the fin spotted, 

 in the young it appears to have a large round black spot edged 

 with white. 



Hob. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. The 

 figure is taken from a specimen in the British Museum. 



2. Genus PEGASUS, Linn. 



Branchiostegal one ; pseudobranchise absent. Gills four ; gill- 

 opening narrow, in front of the pectoral fin. Body broad and 

 depressed, covered with bony plates, which are anchylosed on the 

 trunk and movable on the tail. Gill-cover formed of one bony 

 plate, and a small interopercle concealed by it. No teeth % One 

 short dorsal and anal fin opposite to one another; pectorals hori- 

 zontal and long, composed of simple rays, some of which may be 

 spinous ; ventral with one or two rays, the outer elongate. Air- 

 bladder absent. 



Geographical Distribution. Shores of Indian Ocean. 



1018. (1.) Pegasus draconis. (Fig. 88.) 



Pegasus draconis, Linn. Syst. Nat. \, p. 418 ; Day, Fish. India, p. 280, 

 pi. Ixi, fig. 1 (see synon.). 



D. 5. P. 11. V. 2. A. 5. C. 8. 



Body broad and depressed. Eyes 2| diameters from end of 

 snout and 2 apart. Interorbital space transversely concave, two 

 deep grooves on the neck. Under surface nearly flat, the expanded 



Fig. 88. Pegasus draconis. 



portion with two median and two lateral longitudinal ridges and 

 cross ridges ; at the meeting-points of the various ridges are 



