VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. 121 



the second one ends in a soft skin, and the gill-cover has seven rays. 

 The pectoral-fins have fourteen rays, they are long and end 

 in a narrow point. The ventral fins project backwards and con- 

 sist of six broad, strong- rays, which towards the end are divided 

 into many parts. They are only half as long- as the pectoral fins, 

 much thicker, and the rays are yellow, while the thin skin is 

 white and transparent. 



(27. — We had to lay at anchor.) 



The dorsal fins consist of twenty-five rays ; the first of these 

 are prickly, and those in the middle are longest; they are fourteen 

 in number and are joined to the shorter prickly ones. They only 

 get longer gradually and shorten just as gradually again, they 

 are thinner and soft at the ends. The hindmost fin consists of 

 rays, the first of them is prickly and quite short, the second 

 one is also prickly and is the longest, both are strong and bony 

 the third is less prickly, also long, but shorter than the others, the 

 rest are soft and thin, and they all are of a yellow colour The 

 tail is obtuse, a little retuse in the middle and consists of sixteen 

 rays, which are broad and the divide into many parts towards 

 the end. The lateral line is a little bent. 



The back is dark silver-coloured and has four transwerse, 

 oblong black spots of unequal size, and some irregular black spots 

 at the root of the dorsal fins; all the rest is silver-coloured, the 

 scales are of medium size. The whole fish is not a span long. 



The perch seemed to me to be only a variety of the one I 

 found in the Strait of Malacca, but it was much longer. How- 

 ever the description of this one runs also as follows : The lower 

 lip is longest, the upper one is double, the outer edge being fiat, 

 golden yellow and shiny. It has many teeth, which stand a 

 little apart from each other; they are sharp and of equal size. 

 The nostrils are in the middle between the lips and the eyes, and 

 have swollen edg^es inside ; they are round and of medium size. 

 There is another pair of holes above them, close to the eyes, 

 these are bigger, stand in a straight line, have there a straight 

 projecting root, and afterwards they go into the head in a more 

 slanting manner. 



The gill-covers are divided crossways, the front part is irre- 

 gular and sharply indented, the back part has first a long sharp 

 bony point, and a little higher towards the head there is another 

 point, much shorter and projectirg a little. The rest is covered 



