FISHES OF INDIA. 
SUPPLEMENT, OCTOBER, 1888. 
During the ten years which have elapsed since the publication of my “Fishes of India,” many new 
piscine forms have been obtained from both the seas and fresh waters of that portion of Asia. Extended 
investigations among specimens in European museums have likewise shown me that some species which I 
formerly considered as undescribed, had no title to that designation, while several of my new species have 
been redescribed as novelties in the Proceedings of Societies, in scientific journals or other publications. I 
am also indebted to Mr. Thurston of the Madras Museum, and Mr. Haly of the Colombo Museum, for some 
new Indian forms. I have likewise had the opportunity of consulting the volume of beautiful coloured drawings 
of Burmese fishes with their descriptions by the late Col. Tickell, several of which I have included in the 
present supplement. 
As it is now proposed to re-issue my work in a more portable size, one better suited for travellers and 
collectors, and in which it would be very inconvenient, on account of the necessary space it would require, 
to embrace the entire synonymy of every species, I have considered it advisable to complete the original work 
to the present date. By this means the references would be available for those who are concerned in working 
out each species, for doubtless a vast number of Indian fishes still remain to be discovered. 
Page 9. Bates calcaeifer. Add synonym. 
Pseudolates cavifrons, Alleyn and Macleay, Pro. Lin. Soc. N. S. W. i, p. 262, pi, iii. 
Page 9. Cromileptes Altivelis. Add to synonyms as varieties. 
Serramis striolatus, Gunther and Playfair, Fish. Zanzibar, p. II, pi. iii, f. 2. 
„ gibbosus, Boulenger, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, page 654. 
The chief structural reason why these two varieties have been separated from the 
original form appears to be in consequence of the comparatively low spinous dorsal fin : 
and the colours in which last S. striolatus and 8 . gibbosus likewise differ. 8. striolatus has 
its third and fourth dorsal spines, said to be the longest (both are broken in the single 
example) and one-third the length of the head (thus differing from 8. altivelis). In the 
figure, the third spine is one-fourth longer than the last, which, however, exceeds the 
penultimate one (which is also broken), while it is more than half the height of the 
longest dorsal ray (I’4 to 2’4). The height of the soft portion of the dorsal and anal 
fins equals that of altivelis, but the pectoral is shorter. In colours it has fifteen or more 
rows of short brown streaks and numerous brown spots on the head and body. The single 
skin is 19 inches in length. 
8erranus gibbosus. The unique specimen has been preserved in spirit, and is 15 inches 
in length. The third dorsal spine is longer than the last, which is one-third shorter than 
the longest ray. Its colours are an advance from striolatus towards altivelis, it being 
generally brown with spots or blotches of a larger size than in striolatus, some of which 
' are surrounded by a light ring, but having a tendency to form about seventeen lines along 
the side. 
I think these two new species cannot be specifically separated, but may be varieties of 
altivelis, which latter has not been recorded from the Red Sea, nor known to extend to 
Muscat or Zanzibar. If, therefore, they are varieties, they are evidently outlying speci- 
mens which show a variation in the length of the dorsal spines from what obtains in 
those captured more to the east. The pectoral fin appears rather short in striolatus, but 
more of the normal length in gibbosus, whereas in all the number of scales appears to be 
the same. 
