490 Dr. Richardson's Contributions to 



of colour spoken of agree well with the Port Essington fish, it is 

 possible enough that Solander may have had before him an example 

 of the same or of a nearly allied species. He may have given an 

 equal latitude to the generic term Mugil, as the Forsters afterwards 

 did, and indeed as is done vulgarly by the English residents on the 

 Indian coasts, who apply the term ' mullet ' to several Leucisci as 

 well as to the true Mugiles. M. Valenciennes says, " II y a dans 

 les manuscrits de ce meme naturaliste (Solander), un Mugil lavare- 

 toides qu'il est difficile de caracteriser par le peu de mots qu'il en 

 dit; mais nous avons cependant quelques raisons de soupconner que 

 c'est de l'Elops dont il s'agit ici." (C. & V. xi. p. 118.) Mr. J. 

 McClelland, who has contributed so largely to our knowledge of the 

 Indian Cyprinidce, writes, " Nor is anything whatever known, as far 

 as I am aware, of the existence of Cyprins in New Holland, or any 

 of the Polynesian islands." (Annals of Nat. History for Nov. 1841, 

 p. 198.) And after carefully examining the South-Sea drawings of 

 Parkinson and George Forster, and all the collections of New Zea- 

 land, Australian, and Polynesian fish that have come in my way, the 

 Leuciscus salmoneus is the only Cyprinoid that I have found among 

 them*. 



Two of Russell's Cy print, the tooleloo (No. 208) and the palah- 

 hontah (No. 207), agree with L. salmoneus in possessing four gill- 

 rays, as well as in a portion or the whole of the scales being closely 

 furrowed, producing numerous narrow delicate ridges which termi- 

 nate on the free edge of the scale in acute projecting points or teeth. 

 For these, as a subgenus or minor division of Leuciscus, I propose 

 the designation Ptycholepis. In the palah-bontah the scales above 

 the lateral line only are striated ; the tooleloo agrees with salmoneus 

 in the striated structure being common to all the scales of the body. 

 Both of Russell's species receive the name of " mullet " from the En- 

 glish residents on the Coromandel coast, the palah-bontah being di- 

 stinguished as the " milk mullet," and the tooleloo, which is caught 

 in the river at Madepollam only when the freshes come down and 

 never in the sea, as the " mountain mullet." 



In shape and general aspect this fish strongly resembles a Core- 

 gonus. The head is small and forms only a fifth part of the total 

 length, excluding the lobes of the caudal. The profile is a narrow 

 ellipse, the back and belly being bounded by equal curves, which rise 

 regularly from the mouth to midway between the gill- openings and 

 ventrals, where the body is highest. The posterior curves are flatter 

 and one-third longer, and the body tapers gradually to the base of 

 the caudal, where the height is only one-third of that before the 

 ventrals. 



The head is covered with a smooth nacry skin which is continued 



* Mr. McClelland, in pointing out the analogical relations which exist 

 between the Rasorial birds and the Cyprinidce, says, that " while there is no 

 instance of Rasorial birds possessed of aquatic habits, so no species of Cypri- 

 nidce is known to belong to the sea; in India they are exclusively confined 

 to fresh water, mostly keeping beyond the influence of the tides." The 

 Ptycholepis salmoneus is an exception. 



