Plate 11

Lethrinus variegatus Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1830: 287, Massuah, Suez (Red Sea); Klunzinger, 1870: 751, Red Sea; Bleeker, 1873a: 332, East Indies; 1873-76: 119, pl. 317, fig. 1, East Indies; Sauvage, 1891; 201, pl. 19, fig. 2, Ehren-berg's specimens; Herre & Montalban, 1927: 409, pl. 3, fig. 1, Philippines; Fowler, 1933: 39, Philippines; Weber & Beaufort, 1936: 435, Indo-Australian Archipel.
Lethrinus latifrons Rüppell, 1840: 118, pl. 28, fig. 4, Nohila (Red Sea); Bleeker, 185 Ib: 220, Bulucomba.
Lethrinus semicinctus (not of Valenciennes); Schultz in Schultz et al., 1953: 526 (key).
Lethrinus borbonicus (not of Valenciennes); Wheeler, 1961: 40, pl. 3, fig. 17, Zanzibar, Seychelles.

Specimens examined.

Syntypes. —ZMHU1135 (2 individuals: 105 and 105mm standard length), 1136 (2: 113, 137) from Red Sea.
Lectotype of L. latifrons. —SMF1331 (141) from Red Sea.
Paralectotypes of L. latifrons. —SMF5563 (93), 5562 (121) from Red Sea.
MNHN9062 (142), SMF7173 (60), 7172(83), 5614(110), 5298 (3: 131, 136, 163) from Red Sea.
MNHN9069 (156) from Zanzibar.
UMUTZ53876 (113) from Ishigaki I., Ryukyus.

D. X, 9; A. III, 8; P₁, 13; P₂. I, 5; C. 8 + 7; L. lat. 46 to 48; Ltr. 5 or 6/i/14 or 15.

Proportional measurements of some specimens are shown in Table 19.

Body slender. Head length more than body depth. End of jaws usually on the vertical through posterior nostril. Interorbital area flat. Third to fifth dorsal spines longest. 5 scale rows between lateral line and median dorsal spines. Inner base of pectoral without scales. Lateral teeth of jaws conical.

Color. —Yellowish-brown, paler below. Two dark bands from eye, one straight downward, the other to the middle part of upper jaw. Another dark band connects eyes across interorbital space. Fins orange with brighter margin.

Rather small species.

Distribution. —Red Sea, East Africa to Ryukyus.

Remarks. —L. variegatus was established in part on the basis of Ehrenberg's information from Massuah. Some of his specimens are kept in the Zoologisches Museum an der Humboldt Universitat in Berlin and labeled as the types. In the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris is also kept a fish collected by Ehrenberg from the Red Sea (MNHN9062) labeled as L. variegatus. Although this specimen is not indicated as the type, it is very likely that the specimen was donated to the Museum after the publication of the original description and is really one of the syntypes. As the present species to which the above specimens belong agrees well with the original description of L. variegatus especially in its very slender body, the writer believes that the present species is the true L. variegatus.