BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 173 



Mr. Waite, it was agreed that in his enlarged report the species 

 should be described as CaUcmthias australis, but before this could 

 be carried into effect I received from Dr. Franz Steindachner a 

 pamphlet containing, among other matter, the description of a 

 Callanthias from Juan Fernandez, to which the name C. platei 

 was given, and which does not appear to be specifically distin- 

 guishable from our fish. In fact, the only appreciable differences 

 lie in the larger head and eye, somewhat shorter maxillary, and 

 some slight variation in the fin and scale formula in our species, 

 which may be synoptically arranged as follows : — 



a. Head a little more than 4 to 4| in total length; diameter 

 of eye a little more than 3 to nearly 3| in the head; max- 

 illary extending to below the middle of the eye in the 

 adult, not so far in the young. D. xi 11-12. P. 20. Sc. 



21-3/42-45/17 j^latei. 



aa. Head 3| to 3|^ in total length; diameter of eye 2| to 3 in 

 the head; maxillary not extending beyond anterior border 

 of pupil at any age. D. xi 10-11. P. 21-22. Sc. 2/42- 

 43/15' ... ... ... ... ... platei australis. 



There is but little difference in the size of the examples 

 examined by Dr. Steindachner and myself, so that one would 

 hardly expect to find such a constant variation in the propor- 

 tionate measurements as has been pointed out above; it is, there- 

 fore, proposed to differentiate our form subspecifically as Callan- 

 thias platei australis. Dr. Steindachner's specimens measured 

 from 157 to 240 millimeters, mine from 178 to 220. In freshly 

 caught examoles there are some slight differences in coloration; 

 for instance, referring to Cjilatei, Dr. Plate writes, " the dorsal 

 and anal fins are dark red " ; in the Australian fish these fins are 

 grey or greyish-pink, with a narrow but conspicuous violet 

 marginal band; of the caudal tin Dr. Plate remarks, "sometimes 

 the red, sometimes the violet predominates," while in our form 

 the following pattern is very constant : " base and a broad sub- 

 marginal band above and below golden, the middle rays yellowish- 

 grey with violet tips, the rest of the fin violet;" in the Juan 



