440 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Pai't III 



F. tahacaria are not found in any of my preserved specimens, either 

 old or recent, apparently soon fading after death. My examples 

 of F. petimha are smooth. All show the hind portion of the lateral 

 line armed with firm plates, only less developed in the young, and 

 in small examples some apparently affected by formaline. The 

 same is true of F. tahacaria. The examples of F. petimba all agree 

 in a slightly less deeply depressed interorbital, with narrower sup- 

 raorbitals. Even some of the examples of F. tahacaria show a 

 similar condition, and this is hardly a likely character for distinction. 



MACRORHAMPHOSIDAE. 

 Macrorhamphosus scolopax (Linne) 



Head If to 2|; depth 3f to 4^; snout If to 3f in head; 

 eye 2^ to 4| in snout; D. v or vi — 11 or 12; A. 18 or 19. All show 

 great variation in the length of the dorsal spine, as in some it does 

 not depress much beyond the soft dorsal and in others it extends 

 beyond the caudal tips. Its armature also quite variable, though 

 usually distinct. In smaller or young examples obsolete or only 

 few denticles. Young also have shorter snouts, deeper basally. 

 Length 27 to 158 mm. Twenty-six from Italy. 



Jordan and Starks state they have compared their M. sagifue with 

 two specimens of the present species from the Canaries. They con- 

 tend M. sagifue differs ''in being a little more slender and in having 

 a slightly smaller eye and longer snout." All these characters are, 

 however, covered by my material, as the note above will show; 

 Though they fail to note the length of their type it appears to 

 measure according to their figure, about 115 mm. The correct 

 distinctions therefore remain unknown for the nominal M. sagifue. 

 None of my specimens appears to represent M. gracilis (Lowe) as 

 described by Gunther. It is said to have the body depth 2f to 3 

 in space between opercle and caudal base, which is If to 2| in my 

 specimens. A further distinction is the alleged weak armature of 

 the dorsal spine. 



Macrorhamphosus scolopax elevatus (Waite) 



Head 2^-^; depth 4|, or 2| from gill-opening to caudal base; 

 dorsal spine well armed, not depressible beyond soft dorsal. Victoria. 



Centriscops humerosus (Richardson) 



One from Victoria, Australia, 110? mm. (caudal damaged). 



