THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 
177 
Genus AKIUS, Cuv. and Val. 
Brancliiostegals, from five to six. Opercular bones with moveable articulations. No lateral groove 
on head : bones on summit of head rugose, with very thin skin. Mouth anterior, the upper jaw generally 
the longest. Eyes with a free orbital margin. Cirri six, one maxillary pair and two mandibular pairs. 
Nostrils approximating, the posterior provided with a valve. Teeth in jaws villiform, and in two distant 
patches on the palatines. Two dorsals, the first inserted above or before the ventrals, and with one strong 
serrated or roughened spine and six or seven rays : second dorsal adipose, well developed or moderate. 
Anal of moderate length. Pectoral spine strong and seri’ated. Caudal forked or emarginate. An air 
bladder. 
Arius SUBROSTRATUS. 
Arius SUBROSTRATUS, Cuv. & Val. XV. p. 62; Day , Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p. 293. 
B. vi. D. 1 | 0. P. t l Y. 6. A. 20. C. 17. 
Length of head t 3 q, of pectoral of base of first dorsal of base of second dorsal ^, of base 
of anal A), of caudal T of total length. Height of head jt, of body ^, of dorsal of anal of 
total length. 
Eyes—Diameter i of length of head, f of a diameter apart, and nearly 2 diameters from end 
of snout. 
Mouth spatuliform, extending across the anterior surface of head, its depth nearly equals a 
third of its width. Maxillary cirri rather^ fleshy at their origin, and do not extend so far as the 
orbit, whilst the external mandibular ones are not quite so long as, and 
the internal half the length of the external ones. Upper profile of head 
granulated, occipital process rather longer than broad, moderately keeled along 
its centre, and with a rounded extremity, where it articulates with a narrow 
nasal bone, which is convex anteriorly, and very rough. Central groove of 
head long and narrow, widest opposite the orbits, becoming quite sharp 
at both extremities; anteriorly it extends as far as the snout, and posteriorly 
to opposite the end of the opercles. The skull is roughened by raised 
nodules, in some places passing in lines as far forwards as the orbits, and 
laterally over summit of opercles. The shoulder bones are rough with small 
depressions. Opercle terminates posteriorly in a sub-acute angle, roughened 
by raised lines and depressions. Nostrils large, circular, and approximating, 
both situated in the anterior third of the snout, and at equal distances from the central line of 
the head and the margin of the snout. 
Teeth—Yilliform in both jaws. On intermaxillaries the band is more than a fourth 
as wide as long. No teeth on vomer. In palate they are in two oval patches, placed 
r ~‘ wide apart, and diverging posteriorly. 
Fins—First dorsal commences opposite the posterior fourth of the pectoral: ventral midway 
between the base of the pectoral and the posterior extremity of the anal: anal between the posterior 
extremity of the pectoral and the centre of the base of the dorsal: adipose dorsal situated over 
the posterior half of anal. Dorsal fin pointed, its spine long, equal to the distance from the centre 
of the orbit to the end of the snout: it is flattened laterally and lineated, nodulated anteriorly, becoming 
almost serrated in its upper three fourths, the serratures below being much less developed than those 
above : it terminates in a soft point; the first ray does not extend so far as the end of the soft 
2 A 
