434 Mr. A. Alcock on undescribed Shore-Fishes 
Snout obtusely pointed, scaleless ; its length is not quite 
two thirds the major diameter of the eye, which is one third 
the head-length. Eyes on the left side, separated by a very 
thin and sharp decliving ridge ; the lower in advance of the 
upper. 
Mouth small ; the maxilla, which barely reaches behind 
the vertical through the anterior limit of the lower eye, is 3^ 
in the head-length. Minute, even, close, uniserial teeth in 
both sides of both jaws. 
Gill-membranes broadly united; gill-rakers small, smooth. 
Scales of moderate size, fairly adherent and strongly ctenoid 
on the coloured, cycloid and very deciduous on the blind side. 
Lateral line with a strong supra- pectoral curve. 
The dorsal fin begins almost on the tip of the snout ; its 
highest rays (in the female) are not quite equal to the corre- 
sponding anal rays, which are nearly one third the maximum 
body-height. Caudal obtusely rounded, its length one sixth 
of the total. The rays of all the vertical fins scaly. Right 
pectoral equiradial with, but much narrower and shorter than, 
the left, which is as long as the portion of the head behind 
the middle of the lower eye. Left ventral with the rays in a 
linear series along the middle abdominal line. 
Colours in life : — Left side dusky brown, with indefinite 
blackish patches round the body inside the vertical fins and 
along the lateral line, and with black speckles on all the fins. 
Two female specimens with enlarged ovaries. 
Length 2*8 inches. 
Off Ganjam coast, 30 fathoms ; bottom sand and shells. 
This species appears to be closely related to the preceding. 
Rhomboidichthys, Blkr. 
Rhomboidichthys polylepis , Alcock. 
Arnoqlossus polylepis, Alcock, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. lviii. pt. ii. 
pp. 290, 291, pi. xvi. fig. 1. 
A large mature female with gravid ovaries was taken off the 
south-east coast of Ceylon in 32 fathoms. 
In this female specimen the interorbital space is two fifths 
of the snout-length in width, deeply concave, scaleless; the 
maxilla measures one third the head-length ; the first two 
rays of the dorsal fin (which in the male (?) are detached and 
curiously thickened at their bases) are small, unmodified, and 
continuous with the rest of the fin. The pectoral fins of both 
sides are also slightly more developed than in the male (?). 
This species appears to be closely allied to the next fol- 
o wing. 
