the Ichthyology of Australia, 23 



of precise specific differences proportion ably difficult, and, in 

 fact, it is often impossible to elicit even the generic forms from 

 the descriptions of the naturalists of the Linnaean school. The 

 authors of the ' Histoire des Poissons' were therefore un- 

 doubtedly right in abstaining from encumbering their great 

 work by uncertain references to Solander's manuscripts ; but 

 the ichthyologist who shall hereafter revisit the ports explored 

 by Cook, may wish to know what number of this difficult fa- 

 mily he has to look for ; and with the recent fish before him, 

 he may find that the subjoined extracts from the ' Pisces Au- 

 stralia' will enable him to clear up the synonymy in a way 

 which could scarcely be attempted by the European naturalist 

 who has access to a few discoloured specimens only. 



The Scomber australasicus (Cuv. et Val.) taken by Messrs. 

 Quoy and Gaimard in King George's Sound, is said to be 

 much like the Mediterranean pneumatophorus in general form,, 

 to have the angle of the preoperculum marked with diverging 

 streaks, and the numbers of the fin-rays as follows : — 

 D.9| - 1|12; A. 2|ll,&c. 



Another species, Scomber loo (Cuv. et Val), which was found 

 by Messrs. Lesson and Garnot at New Ireland, Waigiou and 

 New Guinea, represents the common mackerel of Europe 

 almost exactly in form and in the numbers of its fin-rays, 

 though it attains a larger size. It is ornamented by a series 

 of spots and two lines of a brilliant gold-yellow tint. Solander 

 saw a mackerel in Queen Charlotte's Sound, which he consi- 

 dered to be identical with the European one, and as he says 

 nothing about yellow spots and lines, it is probable that the 

 likeness is still more exact than that of the Scomber loo. His 

 very brief notice of the fish is as follows : " Scomber scombrus 

 (Linn. Syst. 492. 1.), habitat (Dec. 1, 1769) in sinu Motuaro. 

 Nostratibus paulo majores. B. 7 ; D. 10| — 1|11 ; A. 1 jl 1 ; 

 C. 18 ; P. 20 ; V. l|5." The fin-rays of the European mackerel 

 are stated by Cuvier to be D. 10, 11 or 12|- 1|11 ; A. l|ll, 

 with five pinnules above and below. 



The Scomber splendens of Solander (' Pisces Australia?,' p. 37) 

 and the Scomber dentex of the Forsters, which is the "maga" 

 of the natives of Queen Charlotte's Sound, are Thyrsites, and 

 very probably the same species. George Forster's figure* of 

 Scomber dentex (the dentatus of J. 11. Forster, as quoted by 



* From a reference written with a pencil under this figure, it appears to 

 have been considered by some one as the same with the Scomber lanceolafus 

 of Solander ; but this is the Cybium Solandri of Cuvier and Valenciennes 

 (viii. p. 192), which was taken off Thrumcap Island in the Polynesian 

 Archipelago, and is named in the native language " tatea." The Banksian 

 library contains a figure of it by Parkinson. 



