1889.] 



Species of Fishes from the Bay of Bengal. 



303 



line of the body and tail to tlie base of the caudal. Long diameter of 

 tlie eye about one-tenth the head length. The supra-orbital niai'gin 

 prominent, with two large simple spines. Interorbital space concave ; 

 two eye-lengths in breadth. Mouth as broad as the disk : the anterior 

 part of its floor, with the tongue and upper surface of the branchial 

 arches, coloured like the body. Teeth sharjj and depressable inwards : 

 in two series in the u])per, three in the lower jaw, the outer series in 

 both jaws being very small. Two teeth on each side of the vomer, and 

 three or four in a row on the palatines. Gills three. Branchiostogals 

 five. Humeral .spine bifid. First dorsal spine slender, naked, and 

 ending in a tuft : the second with a fringed edge : the third bristle-like. 



Colours in life : dorsum dark grey reticulated with narrow black 

 vermicular lines : belly and throat colourless. The stomach is a globu- 

 lar sac ; the intestine long and coiled ; and the two pyloric appendages 

 very large and long. Total length ; 1| inches. 



Locality : 5 miles S. of Ganjam, in 25 fathoms, on a clean sandy 

 bottom. 



Among the ' Investigator ' collections is a specimen of this fish 3f 

 inches long, taken in 28 fathoms off the Malabar coast. In this 

 specimen the humeral spine has two smaller diverging spines at its base. 



Family Cottidj;. 

 Peionotus alepis, sp. n., PI. XXII, Fig. 5. 



This little fish seems to be very closely allied to Prionotus biros- 

 tratus (Richardson), from which it differs in having a scale-less integu- 

 ment. Before describing it, its points of community with P. hirostratus 

 may be reviewed, after Jordan and Hughes' scheme (Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus. 1886, vol. ix, pp. 327-338). 



Dorsal spines 10, rays J3 : anal rays 11. Mouth comparatively 

 large, the maxilla being two-fifths of the head-length, and the mandible 

 extending to the vertical from the front edge of the eye. No cross 

 groove on the top of the head. Free rays of pectoral tapering, and not 

 expanded at the tip. Black patch on spinous dorsal diffused over more 

 than two spines, and not ocellated. Preopercular spine with a distinct 

 smaller one at its base. Gill-rakers slender and tapering. 



Pre-orbital produced beyond the snout. Spines on the head well- 

 developed. Pectoral fins truncated. 



Description. 



D. 10/13. ' A. 11. P. 12/3. V. 1/5. 0. 20. 

 Head of enormous relative size, being longer (caudal excluded), 

 higher, and wider than the compressed body. Outline of the body 

 triangular, with a crescentio expansion at the base of the caudal. Snout 

 39 



