SUPPLEMENT, 1888. 
787 
Page 134. 
Page 138. 
Page 138. 
Genas 1. Malacanthus, Guv. 
Cleft of mouth horizontal, ivith the jaios equal anteriorly. Opercle ivith a spine : pre- 
opercle entire. Eyes lateral. Villiform teeth in the jaws, having an outer hand of stronger 
07ies : palate toothless. A long continuous dorsal fin with the first four to six rays not 
articulated. 
Ilahitat . — Tropical seas. 
1. Malacanthus latovittatus. 
Lahrtis latovittatus, Lacep. iii, p. 526, pi. xxviii, f. 2. 
Tcenianotus latovittatus, Lacep. iv, p. 304. 
Malacanthus latovittatus, Qaoy and Gaim. Voj. Astrol. iii, p. 701, pi. xx, f. 3; Giintlicr, 
Catal. iii, p. 361. 
Malacanthus tceniatus, Guv. and Val. xiii, p. 327, pi. 381 ; Bieeker, Nat. Tjds. Ned. Ind. ii, 
p. 218. 
B. lY-r, D. P. 17, V. 1/5, A. G. 17, L. 1. 125. 
Length of head 4, of caudal fin 9, height of hodj 6 to 7 in the total length. Eyes — - 
high up, and situated nearly midway between the end of the snout and the posterior 
extremity of the opercle, diameter 7 in the length of the head : cleft of mouth does not 
reach to below the front edge of the orbit. Fiois — the dorsal commences above the axil of 
the pectoral but does not extend on to the caudal. Colours — brownish with a broad black 
baud along the side from the pectoral to the caudal fin. 
Habitat . — New Guinea, Mauritius. Ceylon (Haly). 
For Lethrinus eostratus read L. miniatus. Add synonyms. 
Sparus miniatus (Forster) Bloch, Schn. p. 281. 
Lethrinus miniatus. Guv. and Val. vi, p. 316 ; Bieeker, Atl. Ich. viii, p. 121, Perc. t. 
xxxi, f. 3. 
Lethrinus olivaceus et ivaigiensis, Guv. and Val. vi, pp. 295, 297. 
,, acutus, Klunz. Fis. B. Meeres, p. 38, t, vii, f. 1. 
For Sph.erodon heterodon read S. grandoculis. Add synonyms. 
Scicena grandoculis, Forsk. p. 53. 
Chrysop)hrys grandoculis. Guv. and Val. vi, p. 134. 
Lethrinus latidens. Guv. and Val. vi, p. 316. 
SphcBrodon grandoculis, Ruppell, N. W. Fische, p. 113, t. xxviii, f. 2. 
,, latidens, Kner, Novara Fische, p. 83, t. iv, f. 1. 
Monotaxis grandoctdis, Bieeker, Atl. Ich. viii, p. 105, Perc. t. xxi, f. 1. 
Pagrus spinifbr. Add synonym. 
Fagrus ruber, Boulenger, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, page 658. 
Mr. Boulenger has instituted a new species from the Persian Gulf having “ a 
protuberance between and in front of the eyes;” of the dorsal spines the “ third longest, 
compressed and curved, its length one-third to one-fourth the depth of the body,” being 
apparently considered sufficient to characterize it. In Guv. and Val. we are told that in 
Fagrus spiinifer the third dorsal spine is 2/3 the height of the body, and the fourth about 
the same length. If, however, a large number of specimens are brought together it becomes 
at once apparent that this difference in the length of the dorsal spines is almost entirely 
owing to the age and size of the example. In two young specimens from Sind, each 3 inches 
long, the filamentosus prolongation reached the caudal fin, but as age increases the 
comparative length of these filaments diminishes. The largest of Mr. Boulenger’s two 
specimens is 19 inches long, its third dorsal spine is 1'8 inches or 10|- in the total length ; 
while the smaller example is 13 inches long, and its third dorsal spine 1‘7 inches long or 
7 yy in the total. In two small specimens, 7 and 7'4 inches respectively in length sent to 
the British Museum by Golonel Playfair, the length of the prolonged rays is absolutely 
greater than in the larger examples. In a Madras specimen 4’8 inches long the third 
dorsal spine is 2 inches long, or 2^ in the total length ; and in a larger example 9 inches 
long the third dorsal spine is 1'8 inches long, or 1/5 of the total length, while the frontal 
protuberance is well developed. I figured an intermediate sized one in which this spine 
was about 3-1- in the total length or 2/3 of the height of the body. It is no doubt true 
that in the young considerable variations are seen in the length of these rays, which 
prolongations become absorbed with age. The two types of F. ruber are somewhat large 
specimens, but if we examine the foregoing figures we see as follows respecting the third 
dorsal spine, at 19 inches it equals lOf, at 13 inches 7 yL ^ inches 5, at 7 inches 3^, at 
4-8 inches 2^ in the total length. 
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