the Ichthyology of Australia. 171 



which appears to possess external characters intermediate 

 between those of Zeus and Capros, but which, from the absence 

 of spiniferous shields at the bases of the dorsal and anal, and 

 on the ventral line, must necessarily be placed in the latter 

 genus. Hitherto only one species of Capros has been de- 

 scribed ; it is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean Sea ; but one 

 example of it has been taken on the coast of Cornwall. The 

 Australian species does not seem to have been seen by any of 

 the naturalists of the English or French scientific expeditions, 

 probably because it inhabits great depths, like its Mediter- 

 ranean congener, and is brought to the surface only by 

 storms. 



The body, excluding the trunk of the tail and much of the head, 

 is a regular short oval, whose vertical axis, lying between the first 

 dorsal and anus, is equal to rather more than two-thirds of the lon- 

 gitudinal one. The trunk of the tail is longer and more slender than 

 that of either Zeus fab er or Capros aper. 



In the general shape and details of its head the resemblance is 

 greater to the common dory than to the boar-fish, though the snout 

 is more protractile than in the latter. The figure represents the jaws 

 thrust out and extended, and, from the transparency of the integu- 

 ment, the forms of the bony parts are well shown. Their close cor- 

 respondence with the same parts in Zeus faber gives confidence in the 

 general correctness of the artist, though he has doubtless omitted 

 some of the minute details which were not likely to attract the no- 

 tice of any one except an ichthyologist. The under jaw does not 

 project beyond the upper one when the mouth is open ; the maxil- 

 lary is wider below and more broadly and obliquely truncated than 

 in the dory. The scaly cheek has the high subrhomboidal form of 

 that fish, and the narrow smooth preoperculum makes an angle 

 nearly as obtuse and approaching to a curve : near its anterior end 

 a rounded shoulder is shown, looking backwards. The interopercu- 

 lum, as large and as long as in the dory, is slightly curved on the 

 edge like an italic S. The eye, smaller than that of the European 

 boar-fish, though a little larger than that of the dory, is surmounted 

 by a superciliary crest and cranial ridges, exactly as in the latter, 

 but the little spine on each side of the occiput does not appear in 

 the figure. The gill-flap is rounded ; none of the opercular pieces 

 are streaked or furrowed, nor are any spines shown either on the 

 scapular or humeral bones. There are three small scaly patches 

 behind the eye, on the site of the supra-scapular plates. 



Rays:— Br. 6?; D. 7| — 18 ; A. 2| — 17 ; C. 13; V. 1J5. 



The pectorals are small and rounded. The ventrals are also 

 rounded, and attached farther back than the pectorals, as in Capros : 

 a groove is shown in the belly of the fish, reaching to the anus, for 

 their reception when folded back : the spine is very little shorter than 

 the soft rays, and is not represented as rough. The separation of the 

 two dorsals is as complete as in the common dory. The first dorsal 

 is farther back, and occupies less space than in either the dory or 



