180 Dr. Richardson's Contributions to 



The specimens having been sent home in brine containing much 

 undissolved salt, have suffered injury from the friction, and the ori- 

 ginal tints of colour cannot be made out, but they appear to have 

 been much darker on the upper parts than the English Atherine. 

 The A. pectoralis and endrachtensis , which are New Holland species 

 of the same subdivision of the genus with presbyteroides and the 

 lacunosa of Forster, which frequents the coasts of New Caledonia 

 and New Guinea, and may be expected to be found on the northern 

 shores of Australia, have only five or six rays in the first dorsal, and 

 also differences in the other fins, that readily distinguish them from 

 the Tasmanian Roseret, which moreover shows no traces of the black 

 tip to the pectoral, so characteristic of pectoralis. The vertebrae are 

 forty-six in number, and have the same hour-glass form with those 

 of hepsetoides. 



Dimensions. inches, lines. 



Length from tip of snout to points of caudal 3 7 



base of ditto 3 1 



anus 1 8 



• first dorsal 1 5 



— ■ ventrals 1 4f 



edge of gill-cover 8 



_~ ■ eye 2 



Diameter of the eye 3 



Length of pectorals * 6 



Height of body 8 



Width of occiput 3J 



Atherina nigrans (Nob.), The Yalgurnda. 



No. 9. Mr. Gilbert's list. 



Mr. Gilbert informs us that this little fish is a tolerably 

 abundant inhabitant of the freshwater streams that flow into 

 the harbour of Port Essington, and that it is very easily taken 

 with a hook baited with flies or fresh meat. Yalgurnda is its 

 native name. It is a member of that group of Atherines which 

 is characterized by the peculiar angular form of the mouth. 

 Five American examples of the group, and one from New 

 Holland, the A. Jacksoniana, are described in the e Histoire 

 des Poissons/ The Yalgurnda inhabiting the opposite ex- 

 tremity of the Australian continent to Jacksoniana is readily 

 distinguished from it by its higher form, fewer rays in the first 

 dorsal, and black lateral band, instead of a bright silvery and 

 green one. 



The profile of the Yalgurnda is a pretty regular ellipse, which is 

 terminated anteriorly by the thin jaws, and posteriorly by the trunk 

 of the tail, whose height is about one-tenth of the total length of the 

 fish, while the greatest altitude of the body is one-fourth of that 

 length. The dorsal and anal curves are similar, and the first dorsal 

 fin commences on the summit of the arch of the back, and a little 

 posterior to the anal spine. The first ray of both dorsals, of the 

 anal and of the ventrals, is moderately strong with a pungent tip, 



