REPORT ON THE PELAGIC FISHES. 19 



as the fin. Whether this is a peculiarity of the young stage, or whether it is persistent 

 throughout life, cannot be ascertained at present. 



Messrs. Goode and Beau described (Bull.Mus. Comp. Zool., x. 1883, p. 210) a species of 

 Prionotiis which also possesses prolonged pectoral rays, but in that species it is the ninth 

 ray which is most prolonged, and the succeeding rays are graduated, decreasing in 

 regular proportion. 



Gobius sp. 



A young specimen, l^^ inches long, which I am unable to determine specifically, was 

 obtained by the trawl in the Arafura Sea, on September 12, 1874, from a log of wood to 

 which it had attached itself. The capture of this Goby is worth recording, as one of the 

 instances by which we become acquainted with the means of dispersal of the species of 

 this genus. 



Centriscus scoloj^ax, L. 



This species, as well as the closely allied Centriscus gracilis of Lowe, are truly pelagic 

 fishes. The latter has been known to occur in the Mediterranean and various parts of 

 the North and South Atlantic, in the Japanese and Chinese Seas, and in the South Sea.^ 

 As to Centriscus scolopax, I have ascertained its occurrence on the coasts of Tasmania 

 as far back as the year 1876,' and two of the three specimens obtained by the Challenger 

 Expedition on the passage from Sydney to Wellington evidently belong to the same species. 



All three specimens are young (from 6 to 13 lines long), and their dorsal spine is 

 conspicuously shorter and weaker than in adult Centriscus scolopax, but longer and 

 more distinctly denticulated than in Centriscus gracilis. They approach much more 

 nearly to the typical form of the former species in the shape of their body, as may be seen 

 from the following measurements : — 



Lojyhotes cepedianus, Giorna, young (PI. II. figs. K, K'). 



The discovery of the young of so scarce a fish as Loj^hotes must excite some 

 surprise, but there is no other genus to which . the little fish could be referred with 



• Fische d. Siidsee, p. 222. 



^ Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. xviii. p. 395, 1876 ; referred to by Lutken, loc. cit., p. 585. 



