SEA PISHES AT MOMBASA 
47 
THE SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION OF SOME OF THE 
SEA FISHES AT MOMBASA 
By R. J. Cuninghame, F.Z.S. 
Some months ago readers may remember an article under 
my name dealing with my experiences while making a scientific 
collection of sea fishes at Mombasa for the British Museum. 
This collection has now been worked out and classified by 
Mr. C. Tate Ragan, M.A., and I here epitomise the results of 
our joint labours. 
To the average reader I fear that the information given 
will prove of little interest on account of its highly technical 
character. My attempt to familiarise these marine fish by 
appending popular nomenclature has, I must say, been signally 
unsuccessful owing to the fact that comparatively few indi- 
vidual tropical sea fish possess any English name. To give 
the derivatives of the scientific names and the literal trans- 
lation of such would serve no useful purpose — therefore I 
have mainly confined the popular naming to some of the 
orders and families. 
The inclusion of the Swahili native names may possibly 
be of local interest, but of course they have no scientific value 
whatsoever — while the remaining data may possibly be of 
real value in the study of fish-migration when compared with 
similar observations at widely different localities. 
There is a big field for further research among the Scom- 
bridce (Mackerels) and the Blenniidce (Blennies) — the former 
from a practical and sporting point of view, and the latter from 
a purely scientific standpoint — and I hope to be able to furnish 
some further information of a more readable nature concerning 
these two large groups of sea fish in due course. 
