the Ichthyology of Australia. 179 



Dimensions. inches, lines. 



Length from tip of snout to point of caudal 4 2 



base of caudal 3 7 



second dorsal 2 5 



anal 2 4J 



■ anus 1 9 



first dorsal 1 7 



ventrals 1 b\ 



edge of gill-cover 8£ 



Diameter of eye 2| 



Length of snout before eye 2£ 



Height of body G 



first dorsal 5J 



second ditto 4 



Length of pectorals 7 



caudal 7 



Atherina presbyteroides (Nob.), Tasmanian Roseret. 



Three examples of an Atherine, strongly resembling the 

 sandsmelt (A. presbyter) so common on the south coast of 

 England in physiognomy and general proportions, were sent 

 to« me from Port Arthur by Mr. Lempriere. 



The Tasmanian fish is however more elevated, owing to the greater 

 protuberance of its belly ; the length of its head and the height of its 

 body are equal to each other, and also to a fifth of the total length 

 of the fish, caudal included. The portion of the snout lying before 

 the orbit is one-fourth of the entire length of the head, and the 

 diameter of the eye is a little greater, being one-third of that length. 

 The mesial ridge of the snout is not prolonged so far back as in 

 presbyter, but rises rather higher, forming a short obtuse eminence 

 between the nostrils. The inequalities of the cranium are more 

 rounded than in the sandsmelt just named, and there are oblique 

 pores leading to cells over the orbits, but no open oval pits as in 

 hepsetoides. The intermaxillaries have as little protractility as those 

 of presbyter ; the teeth appear to be of the same size as in that spe- 

 cies, and there is an equal correspondence in the depressions of the 

 preorbitars and shapes of the opercular bones. 



Rays:— D. 9|-10or 11 ; A. 1|12; C. 15| ; P. 11; V. l|5. 



The first dorsal is small in all its dimensions ; its rays slender and 

 flexible : it stands wholly anterior to the anus, commencing just 

 perceptibly behind the ventrals. I could not satisfy myself whether 

 the first ray of the second dorsal was spinous or jointed. The anal 

 spine is short and very flexible. As the pectoral rays are fewer than 

 in the other Atherines, they were repeatedly counted and found to 

 correspond exactly in all the three specimens. All the rays of the 

 ventrals are equally soft and flexible, and the jointed ones split so 

 readily to the base when handled that they might easily be reckoned 

 as exceeding the normal number. The scales are rather large, and 

 there are only two rows of them above the silvery lateral band, while 

 in presbyter there are three. The scale on the summit of the back, 

 immediately before the spinous dorsal, embraces the first ray in a 

 narrow notch. 



N2 



