178 
THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 
termination of the spine, and the last ray is only a third the length of the spine. Pectoral spine 
very slightly shorter than that of the dorsal, laterally compressed and slightly roughened in lines : 
it is nodulated externally, and semi-serrated in its external half: internally it is serrated for its 
whole extent: it ends in a soft point. Anal with the sixth or seventh ray the longest, its external 
margin is rather concave. Base of soft dorsal equal to about half that of the anal, it is higher 
than wide. Caudal lobed, but not deeply : fin rather expanded : the distance between the end of 
the anal and commencement of caudal equals the base of the anal. 
Lateral line—Iu pairs of short parallel tubes, at first curving upwards, below the dorsal spine 
it begins to sink, and from opposite the end of the ventral it passes direct to the centre of the 
caudal, where it divides into two branches, the superior passing upwards, crossing the base of two 
rays, and the inferior downwards crossing the base of three. 
Colours—Brilliant silvery blue as far as the lateral fine : silvery white below : a golden gloss 
over the cheeks. Fins yellowish : very fine black spots on the tip of the dorsal, over the adipose 
dorsal and the caudal. 
Common, and is captured principally during the S. W. monsoon. Is eaten by the Natives. 
Grows to a foot in length. 
Habitat—Malabar. 
* Arius rostratus. 
Arius rostratus, Cuv. & Val. xv. p. 63. 
D. i | 0. P. j\. V. 7. A. 18. C. 18. 
Length of head of the body excluding the caudal fin, measured to the summit of the 
interparietal prominence it is f. The distance from the end of the mouth to the angle of the 
frontal is half the length from the end of the snout to the angle of the opercle, which is more than 
obtains in the Ar. subrostratus. 
The interorbital space is more flat than in the last, and the central longitudinal groove on the 
head straighter and longer, whilst the interparietal ridge is narrower and its granulations stronger. 
The maxillary cirrus does not extend so far as the projecting angle of the frontal: the others 
are a third or half shorter. 
The shoulder bones are smooth and without any striae or granulations. 
Teeth—Are villiform and fine in the jaws, and on a very small patch on the palatines they are 
blunt and granulated. 
Colours—Plumbaceous, blackish on the back and silvery below. 
Habitat—Allepey in Malabar. 
Arius ccelatus. 
Arius ccelatus, Cuv. & Val. xv. p. 66; Bleeker , Atl. Ich. ii. p. 35, t. 53; Gunther , 
Catal. v. p. 158. 
Arius ^equibarbis, Cuv. & Val. xv. p. 68. 
Arius granosus, Cuv. & Val. xv. p. 69. 
B. v. D. 1. | 0. P. 1. V. 6. A. 19. C. 15. 
Length of head 4, of pectoral of caudal 4, of base of dorsal T L, of base of second dorsal A, 
of base of anal -g- of total length. Height of head y, of body ^, of first dorsal y, of second dorsal 
A, of anal A; of ventral y of total length. 
