the Ichthyology of Australia, 175 



sington, inhabits the quiet secluded bays of the harbour, 

 where the water is shallow and the bottom soft and sandy. 



It is a more elongated species than the preceding one, has a more 

 slender tail, and possesses on the whole a neater form, its profile 

 being very similar to that of Harpurus inermis of Forster, of which 

 a drawing exists in the Banksian library*. The vertical height of 

 the body is contained thrice and one-third in the total length. The 

 vertical fins are lower than in the preceding, the spines are not so 

 strong nor so acutely furrowed, and the soft parts of the anal and 

 dorsal are less rounded, being rather highest anteriorly. The caudal 

 is forked to the depth of one -third of its length ; the pectorals are 

 short and rounded. The profile to the commencement of the dorsal 

 is very slightly arched, or almost straight, and the forehead is flat- 

 tened transversely. A central ridge running from the occiput to 

 between the nostrils is visible in the dry specimen ; it is faintly fea- 

 thered by minute streaks. The lateral ridges are short and indi- 

 stinct. The thin, anterior crest of the orbit projects more suddenly 

 and acutely than in the Amphacanthus notostictus, and it is more di- 

 stinctly serrated. The cheek is entirely destitute of scales, and there 

 are very few on the temples. The limbs of the preoperculum meet 

 at a right angle ; the upper one is shorter than in notostictus, and 

 the more rounded and minutely serrated corner is consequently 

 brought farther back, being placed under the posterior third of the 

 orbit. The occiput may be said to be minutely granulated rather 

 than furrowed, and the pits and streaks of the suborbitars and oper- 

 cular bones are delicate and indistinct. The furrows are more evi- 

 dent on the humeral bones, but even there they are less deeply im- 

 pressed than in notostictus. 



The teeth of the upper jaw are notched with unequal points, the 

 larger point being denticulated. In the lower jaw the points of the 

 teeth are still more unequal, one being placed at the base of the 

 other. 



Rays:— B. 5; D. 13|10; A. 7|9 ; C. 17| ; P. 15 ; V.2|3. 



If any peculiar patterns of colour are exhibited by the recent fish, 

 they have entirely disappeared in the prepared specimen, the only 

 colour remaining being an uniform dark reddish brown. The fins are 

 colourless and spotless. In the absence of any peculiar markings I 

 have relied on the nakedness of the cheek as a specific character, 

 though I have not been hitherto able to verify its importance by an 

 examination of other species. The fish selected by the authors of 

 the ' Histoire des Poissons ' as a type of the genus is described as 

 having the cheek and temples covered by innumerable little scales, 

 and nothing is said of any of the other Amphacanthi differing in this 

 respect. We have seen that the Amph. notostictus has the anterior 

 half of the cheek naked, and in the present species it is wholly so. 



Dimensions. inches# lincs 



Length from upper lip to tip of caudal lobe 8 2 



base of caudal fin 6 7J 



anal 3 5 



Amphacanthus punctatus, Bl. Schn. p. 210; Cuv. et Val. x. p. 146. 



