300 "ENDEAVOUR" SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Hal). Koebuck Bay, K W. Australia ( ? R. austral in) ; 

 Port Darwin, Northern Territory (R. guttata) ; coast of 

 Queensland. 



Described from five specimens, 212-260 mm. in total 

 length. 



E.I 401-2. 20 miles X.E. of Bustard Bay, Queens- 

 land ; 20 fathoms. 



E.2811-2. Southern Queensland. 

 E.6706. Southern Queensland. 



I have compared the specimens collected by the 

 "Endeavour"' with examples of P. japonica, Schlegel, 

 from Japan, and, although the two species are un- 

 doubtedly very closely related, they appear to be distinct. 

 P. guttata differs from P. japonica chiefly in having a 

 longer head, somewhat smaller mouth, longer nasal 

 papilla on the blind side, in the form of the scales, and 

 in the coloration. 



Apart from the form of the labial fringes and the 

 number of lateral lines on the ocular side, Paraplagusia 

 unicolor and P. guttata are remarkably similar, the pro- 

 portions, fin-ray and scale counts, etc., being almost 

 identical. The form of the fringes is apparently not 

 constant, since among thirteen specimens with two 

 lateral lines (unicolor), one or two have these fringes 

 rather feebly branched, and in one example they are 

 short, stout, and unbranched. Of the live specimens with 

 three lateral lines (guttata) one example has the fringes 

 distinctly arborescent. The number of lateral lines on 

 the ocular side may perhaps prove eventually to be of 

 doubtful value as a specific character. Jordan and 

 Starks (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., XXXI, 1906, p. 240) have 

 noted that in Cynoglossus (Areliscus) interruptus the 

 lower lateral line "is broken at irregular intervals, and 

 often, especially in the smaller examples, it is entirely 

 absent . . ." Until this character has been investi- 

 gated throughout the family, however, these species may 

 be kept separate. 



2. CYNOGLOSSUS. 



Cynoglossus, Hamilton (Buchanan), Fish. Gauges, p. 32 



(1822). 



Numerous species from West Africa and the Indo- 

 Pacific; seven known from Australia. 



