Dr. Richardson on the Ichthyology of Australia, 207 



such merely relations of analogy ? If so, they are expressed ; but I 

 cannot help thinking, that the relation is still stronger than that of 

 mere representation. 



All geological forms may I think be referred with ease to the fore^ 

 going arrangement, even the most anomalous in appearance, such as 

 Aphalaspis ; for thi§ fossil form may, in my opinion, be understood by 

 looking at the head of Platycephalus. However, the most extraordi- 

 nary forms of fossil fish belong to the Ganoids of Agassiz, or rather 

 to the Sturiones, and those other orders of the class Pisces that pre- 

 sent the fewest existing forms. But on this head I shall at once 

 frankly say, that if any fossil forms can l)e shown not to fall into a 

 place in the preceding arrangement, then my general view of Ich- 

 thyological affinities is wrong ; for I am convinced that there is but 

 one system for all animals, whether Antediluvian or not. I shall 

 write you on EcUnidcd in my next, and send you some the very first 

 opportunity. 



XXV. — Contributions to the Ichthyology of Australia, By 

 -John Richardson, M.D., F.R.S., &c., Inspector of 

 Hospitals, Haslar. 



[Continued from p. 131.] 

 Ubanoscopus maculatus {Forster), Bearded Uranoscope. 



Uranoscopus maculosus, Soland. Pise. Austr. MSS. p. 21. 



maculatus, G. Forst. ; Fig. Nos. 176, 177, Banks. Libr. 



monopterygius, Bl. Schn., p. 49, ex notis J. R. Forsteri, no- 

 mine specifico ejus mutato. 



cirrhosus, Cuv. & Val. iii. p. 314. An. 1829. 



Forsteri, Id. iii. p. 318. 



Kouripoua, Less., Voy. &c. par M. Duperrey, 1830, pi. 18. 



On Cook's first voyage a Uranoscope with a single dorsal 

 was procured at Tolaga, in latitude BS^°, New Zealand, the co- 

 lours of which were briefly described by Solander in his ^Pisces 

 Australiae;' but as the details of structure were not given, and 

 no figure was taken, it remained for future observers to fur- 

 nish a proper character of the species. On the second voyage 

 of our immortal navigator this Uranoscope was again obtained 

 on the coast of New Zealand, at Queen Charlotte's Sound, in 

 latitude 41°. The two pencil sketches above quoted w^ere on 

 this occasion made by George Forster, and in 1801 the spe- 

 cies was described under the designation of monopterygius by 

 Schneider in his posthumous edition of Bloch, from the ma- 

 nuscripts of J. R. Forster. The term maculatus is inscribed 

 on G. Forster's sketches, and it is also noted that the native 

 name of the fish is ' Bedee.' Just fifty years after Cook's second 

 voyage, M. Lesson, one of the naturalists of La Coquille, com- 

 manded by Capt. Duperrey, discovered the same species, or 

 one very nearly alike, in the Bay of Islands, where it bore the 



