28-1 A. Alcock — List of Pleuronectidaj/ram the Bay of Bengal. [No. 3, 



right, and occupies the whole median Hue from the thi-oat to the anal 

 fin: each has six rays. Colours during life — dull smoky brown with a 

 series of darker blotches round the coloured side inside the vertical fins. 

 Vertical fins with dark speckles. The male with ten or eleven small 

 brilliant azure spots arranged in two j'ows on the snout and in front of 

 the interorbital space. Length : male 3j inches, females 3f to 4^'^ inches. 



Met with in 7 to 13 fathoms, from 8 to 20 miles S. W. of Puri on 

 muddy bottoms, and once on clean sand. 



The fish next to be described might, at first sight, be taken for the 

 immature form of some larger Pleuronectid. But after duo considera- 

 tion, and after finding a second very similar yet quite distinct form, I 

 venture to describe both as new, and to provisionally unite their common 

 characters into the diagnosis of a new genus, for which the name 

 Scianectes, in allusion to the delicate transparency of the tissues, is 

 suggested. 



Scianectes, gen, nov. 

 Jaws and dentition equal on both sides. Dorsal fin commencing 

 before the eye, on the snout. Body pyriform and delicate. Mouth 

 small, the length of the maxillary being less than one-third of the 

 length of the head. Teeth minute in a single series in both jaws. 

 Vomerine teeth. Eyes on the left side and close togethei-. All the 

 rays of the vertical fins simple, elongated, weak, and filamentous. 

 Scales minute, membranous, and deciduous. Lateral line with a curve 

 above the pectoral. Gill-membranes united at the throat. Gill-rakers 

 distant and short. 



9. Scianectes lophoptera, n. sp , PI. XVI, Fig. 2. 

 B. 5 ? D. 86-88. A. 66. 



Body pyriform, transparent and delicate, its height being contained 

 2f in the total, without the caudal. Head short, its length being 3^ 

 in the total without the caudal, and three-fourths of its height. Snout 

 obtuse, barely equal to the eye in length. Eyes on the left side situated 

 in the extreme anterior part of the head, separated from each other by 

 a longitudinally grooved ridge ; the lower slightly in advance ; their 

 diameter one-fifth of the head-length. The cleft of the mouth forms an 

 almost vertical arch The length of the maxilla is one-fourth the 

 length of the head. Minute teeth in a row in both jaws, and on the 

 vomer. Gill-cleft very wide. Operclo almost membranous. Gill-rakers 

 iu the form of distant delicate spines. 



Integument covered with minute, delicate, excessively deciduous 

 scales. Lateral line salient, with a semicircular curve above the pectoral, 



