18S9.] A. A]oock— List of Pleuronoctidm from tlw Bay of Bengal. 293 



Taken 40 miles S. W. of Akjab, iu 100 fathoms. 



The two species of AphonsHa have certain points in common : both 

 sides of the body are coloured, there are two nostrils on the eye side, the 

 cleft of the naonth is almost horizontal, and the anterior dorsal rays are 

 rather widely separated and inter-connected by membrane only at their 

 bases. 



28. Aphoristia gilesii, n. sp., PI. XVII, Pig. 2. 

 D. 97-98. A. 83-85. 0. 14. V. 4. 

 Body lanceolate ; its greatest height, which is anterior to the vortical 

 middle, IS jnst over one-fonrth of the total. The head is much expand- 

 ed dowu^-ards in the opercular region ; its length is contained 4i 

 times m the total, and is 5f times the length of the snout, the outline 

 ot which anteriorly is abruptly truncated. 



The snout and jaws are covered with small scales. 

 The eyes are well within the anterior third of the head, and almost 

 exactly on the same level : their length is nearly one-eighth that of the 

 head. The mterocular space is scaly, the scales encroaching on the 

 margins of the eyes. A simple perforated nostril in the anterior part of 

 the mterorbit, and a tubular one about half as long as the eye midway 

 between the lower eye and the tip of the snout. No nostrils on the 

 blind side. Cleft of mouth horizontal, with a slight down-curve at its 

 angle, which is in the vertical from the middle of the eye. 



Dentition feeble ; on the blind side only. Gill-cleft narrow and 

 low : branohiostegal rays and membrane prolonged downwards and back- 

 wards considerably beyond the edge of the operculum. Scales of 

 moderate size, ctenoid on both sides, and so deciduous that their number 

 could not be correctly counted. The dorsal iin begins over the middle 

 oi the upper eye: its first eight rays are separated by wide interspaces 

 and (apparently) connected by membrane only at their bases : the lono-. 

 est rays are near the middle of the fin and are contained 2f times in the 

 body height. The distance of the origin of the anal from the snout is 

 equal to the body-height : the longest anal rays are slightly longer than 

 the longest dorsal. 



The ventral arises between the gill-covers, and is separated from 

 the origin of the anal by little more than an eye-length. Lenn-th of 

 caudal Sf iu the total. " 



Both sides are coloured, recorded in life as " Earth colour with 

 parallel brown lines." In spirit, it is yellow with numerous fins parallel 

 brown lines extending along the body from head to caudal : fins brown. 

 Total length, 4| inches. One specimen. 



Locality. Lat20.°17'N. Long 88.° 51' E. 193 fathoms. I have 



