﻿FISHES— MCCULLOCH. 



67 



•entered the net as it neared the surface, since the species has 

 been taken in a surface net, swimming with pilchards and 

 mackerels.! This fish has been recorded from West Australia, 

 Tasmania, New South Wales and New Zealand. 



Family HISITOPTERID^. 

 Genus Zanclistius, Jordan. 



Zaticlistius, Jordan, rr(u\ L'..S. Nat. Mus., xxxii., 1907, 

 p. 236 {elevatus). 



Anal spines three; soft dorsal very high, usually falcate, 

 with about twenty-six rays. 



Zaxclistius elevatus, Rnnisay and Ogilhy. 



SJiort Boar Fish. 



(Figs. 14-18.) 



Histiopterus elevatus, Ramsav and Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. 

 N.S.Wales (2), iii., 1888, p. 1311;'/^., Waite, Mem. 

 Austr. Mus., iv., 1899, p. 114, pi. xxvi. 



Zanclistius elevatus, W'aite, Proc. N. Zealand Inst., pt. 1, 



1910, p. 25, and Rec. Cantb. Mus., i., 191 1, p. 216; id., 



Kershaw, Vict. Nat. xxviii-, 191 1, p. 93. 



Fifty-two specimens, of all sizes between 75 and 300 mm. 



long, exhibit a remarkable range of variation in certain of the 



characters that are usually relied upon to differentiate the 



species of this family. That these are not due to either age or 



growth is adequately shown by this splendid series, while it 



is also clear that they cannot be entirely connected with sex. 



Figures 14-18 illustrate five selected variations, their 

 relative sizes being shown by the inch-line accompanying each. 



The most striking variation is in the angle and form of the 

 dorsal profile. In some specimens the line from the first 

 dorsal spine to the base of the snout is almost straight, being 

 broken only by a slight convexity over the eyes. In others it 

 is an irregular arch interrupted by a large bony boss on the 

 occipital region, and another smaller one over each eye. From 

 these last the profile may extend obliquely forward so that the 

 nostrils are placed nearly an eye-diameter in front of the 

 anterior margin of the orbit, or it may follow the curvature of 

 the eye so that they are only very little in front of the eye. 

 The size of the eye is also subject to variation. 



1 stead-Add. Fish Faun. N.S.Wales, No. 1 (Dept. Fish. N.S.W.). 1907. 

 p. 16 



