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Show 184 ON THE FISnES OF TIIE GENUS TRIACANTHUS. [Feb. 17, orbital part of head equal to or greater than eye-diameter. Interorbital space with a more or less distinct median ridge, with a groove 011 each side of it. Occipital crest convex, moderately elevated, becoming nearly horizontal in front of the base of the first dorsal spine. D. V, 24-25; A. 18-20; first dorsal spine shorter than the head, the others short; length of base of anal fin l f - l f times in that of soft dorsal fin ; pelvis between ventral spines broad, scarcely nan owed posteriorly. Membrane of spinous dorsal fin blackish. Total length 250 mm. Hab. East Indian Archipelago, Seas of China and Japan. T r ia c a n th u s in d ic u s , n. sp. Russell, Indian Fishes, p. 14, pi. xxi. (1803). Balistes biacideatus Bennett, Fishes of Ceylon, pi. xv. (1830). Triacanthus biacideatus Cantor, Mai. Fish. p. 360 (1847); Day, Fishes of Malabar, p. 260 (1865). Triacanthus brevirostris Hollard, Ann. Sci. Nat. (4) i. 1854, p. 45, pi. ii. fig. 1 ; Gunther, Cat. viii. p. 209, part. (1870); Day, Fishes of India, p. 685, pi. clxxv. fig. 1 (1878). Depth of body 2J-2| times in the total length, length of head 3|-3J times, length of caudal peduncle 4|-5 times. Snout straight, its length about 1| times in that of the head, eye-diameter 3^-4| times, interorbital width 3-3j times. Length of postorbital part of head distinctly less than eye-diameter. Interorbital space with a more or less distinct median ridge with a groove on each side of it. Occipital crest elevated, its upper edge nearly in the same straight line with that of the snout. D. Y, 24-25; A. 18-20 ; first dorsal spine nearly as long as the head, the others short; length of base of anal fin 1 j- l| times in that of soft dorsal fin ; pelvis between ventral spines broad, scarcely narrowed posteriorly. Membrane of spinous dorsal fin blackish. Total length 220 mm. Hab. Coasts of India from Kurrachee to Penang; Ceylon; Andaman Is. This species differs from T. brevirostris chiefly in the longer snout, the shorter postorbital part of head, and the shorter and more elevated occipital crest. The figures given by Russell and Bennett are excellent. T r ia c a n th u s x ie u i io f i . 1 Nieuhof, Gedenkw. Zee en lantr. p. 272, fig. Willoughby, Ichthyology, Appendix, p. 5, pi. x. fig. 2 (1686). ? Gronow, Mus. i. p. 52 (1754-6) & Zoophyl. p. 53 (1763-81). Triacanthus nieuho/i B]eeker, Verh. Bat. Gen. xxiv. 1852, p. 26, pi. iv. fig. 9, & Atlas Ichth. v. p. 92, pi. ccxvii. fig. 3 (1865). Triacanthus br achy soma Bleeker, Nat. Tijds. Ned. Ind. iv. 1853, p. 128. 1 I have not been able to verify this reference. |