524 



SURGEON-MAJOR DAT OK SOME 



On some new Fishes of India. By Surgeon-Major Francis Day, 

 F.L.S., F.Z.S., Inspector- General of the Fisheries of India. 



[Read April 3, 1873.] 



"Whilst inquiring into the fisheries at Madras and along the 

 western coast of India or the contiguous Coimbatore district, the 

 following new species of fish have (amongst others) been person- 

 ally collected. A few remarks are likewise added on some of 

 the specimens in the Madras Government Museum, which I took 

 a hasty survey of whilst in that town. 



Going over the identical ground I had previously collected in, 

 as Vithry in the Wynaad and the Bowany river at the base of 

 the JSTeilgherries, I found that fresh species rewarded a renewed re- 

 search ; whilst some which had been common at my former investi- 

 gations were not then to be obtained. 



Serranus oceanus, Lacep. 



A specimen 9 inches long was captured at Madras last hot 

 season, and is in the Museum. The whole of the dorsal fin has a 

 blackish margin. 



Genvoroge melanura, Riipp. 



This fish, hitherto recorded as from the Eed Sea, breeds at the 

 Andaman Islands, where J. Wood Mason, Esq., captured several 

 of the young in 1872. 



Mesoprion Johnii, Block. 



I obtained a quantity of the small fry of this species from the 

 Madras markets in December 1872 ; all had a spinous prolonga- 

 tion at the angle of their preopercles, which becomes lost as they 

 grow larger. This, however, is evidently not the case with all the 

 fish of this genus, as such is not seen in M. Eussellii. 



Scatophagus argus, Linn. 



In the very young a bony ridge, terminating in a strong spine, 

 passes from the upper margin of the orbit to above the opercle, 

 ending on the shoulder. 



Otolithus brunneus, sp. nov. 

 D. 9 I JL, A. 2, L. r. 102, L. tr. 21. 



1 2 8' 7 3 4 



Length of head f , of caudal T 2 X , height of body xl of the total length. 

 Eyes: diameter T of length of head, 1^ diameter from end of snout. 

 Lower jaw slightly the longer, the posterior extremity of the maxilla 

 reaches to beneath the hind edge of the orbit. Preopercle scarcely 



