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Show 1867.] THE FISHES O F S E Y C H E L L E S . 851 in Seychelles, which loses itself in a sand-bank without reaching the sea. The only direct communication between the two is after unusually heavy floods; so that it would appear that this salt-water species not only visits, but habitually lives, in fresh water. 47. DIAGRAMMA PUNCTATISSIMUM, sp. n. (Pl. XL.) D. JJ. A.|. L. lat. 90-95. Allied to D. pardalis and D. gaterina, but differing from these principally in the size of the scales. Diagnosis.-Height of body thrice and two-thirds in the total length ; length of head four times in the same. Diameter of eye a fourth of the length of the head. Lips thick, swollen. The upper maxillary barely reaches the vertical from the anterior nostril. Praeoperculum with the posterior limb slightly inclining forwards, with a very shallow emargination in the middle, and, together with the angle, moderately denticulated. Dorsal fin rather deeply notched, the fourth and fifth spines longest; they are contained twice and a half in the length of the head, and are longer than the longest ray. The second and third anal spines are about equal in length, but the former is much the stronger; they are hardly shorter than the fourth dorsal ray. Caudal truncated. The free portion of the tail below the termination of the dorsal is less than the distance thence to the base of the caudal. Colour.-Grey ; the upper two-thirds of the head and trunk, the soft dorsal, anal, and caudal covered with rather large, crowded, blackish spots, occupying from two to five series of scales. The spinous dorsal with a broad black margin, and a series of large black spots along the middle, the largest being half the diameter of the orbit. Soft dorsal with a narrow black margin. Pectorals grey, with a red black-edged spot at the axil, one or two reddish black spots on the base, and the membrane behind the base red. Ventrals with two red spots on the base superiorly. Length 16^ inches. 48. DIAGRAMMA CENTURIO, C. & V. 49. SCOLOPSIS FRENATUS, C. & V. 50. S. PH.EOPS. Scolopsides pheeops, Bennett, Proc. Comm. Zool. Soc. i. p. 165. Scolopsis pheeops, Giinth. Fish. i. p. 358. Hab. Seychelles ; Mauritius. 51. PENTAPUS AUROLINEATUS. Sparus lineatus, Lacep. iv. p. 132. Pentapus aurolineatus, Cuv. & Val. vi. pp. 269, 559, pl. 157; Giinth. Fish. i. p. 381. Hab. Seychelles; Mauritius; Molucca Sea; Louisiade archipelago. |
