from the Bay of Bengal . 
441 
Synaptura altipinnis , sp. n. 
D. 81. A. 66. C. 18. P. 9. V. 4. L. lat. 135 * 
L. tr. i\. 
Body oval ; its height a little over one third the total 
measured to the tip of the caudal. Length of the head one 
sixth of the same, one third higher than long. 
Snout obtuse, a little longer than the lower eye, which is 
one fifth the head-length in the major diameter ; upper eye 
smaller, about a third its diameter in advance of the lower. 
Interorbital space less than half a diameter of the eye in 
width, scaly. 
A very short tubular nostril on the coloured side ; the other 
nostrils indistinguishable. 
The mouth-cleft reaches beyond the vertical through the 
middle of the lower eye. Mid-mento-jugular line with thick- 
set ciliiform barbules. 
Gill-opening very narrow ; the gill-membranes on both 
sides expanded above and annexed to the bases of the pec- 
torals. Scales very sharply ctenoid on both sides, slightly 
increased in size in the posterior half of the body. Lateral 
line as in S. zebra , on both sides. 
Dorsal and anal fins confluent with the caudal up to its 
tip ; the dorsal begins just in advance of the upper eye, its 
rays, like those of the anal, increasing very gradually in 
length from before backwards, the hindermost measuring 
more than one third of the greatest body- height and a little 
more than the corresponding anal rays. Caudal broad, fan- 
shaped, its length 6^ in the total. Pectorals symmetrical, 
very small, the longest rays being not quite f the major 
diameter of the eye. Ventrals also very small, about as long 
as the snout. 
Colours in life : — Right side of body and fins striped, in 
the manner of S. quagga , in alternate cross bands of purple- 
brown and ash-brown, to the number of twenty-eight ; caudal 
purple-brown, with large ash-brown blots. 
One specimen, 7*25 inches long. 
Off Vizagapatam coast, 25 fathoms ; bottom mud. 
# From origin on snout to base of caudal. 
Ann. (f- Mag, X. Ilist. Ser. 6. VOL vi. 
32 
