174: CONTRIBUTIONS TO AUSTRALIAN ICHTHYOLOGY, 



Fernandez fish the iris is blackish, in ours golden, clouded with 

 brown and bordered above with violet; nor is any mention made 

 by Dr. Plate of the conspicuous orange spot behind the base of 

 the pectoral fin. In their habits, also, the two forms appear to 

 show considerable variation, for while the New South Wales fish 

 is only taken at the bottom on rocky ground by persons engaged 

 in fishing for schnapper, (PcKjroscmiics auratus) as in the case of 

 two examples which I have had the privilege of critically examin- 

 ing, or by the trawl net in similar localities, as was the experience 

 of the "Thetis" stafi",* Dr. Plate writes of the eastern Pacific 

 form that it arrives at the island at rare and irregular intervals 

 in vast shoals consisting of many hundreds of individuals, and 

 states that he has seen such swarms of fishes that they seemed 

 to form a solid mass beneath the surface of the water, showing 

 like golden spots in the remoter distance. Enough has, I think, 

 been said to justify the subspecific separation of the two forms. 

 The range of C aUaHthias jylatei and its subspecies may be given 

 as throughout the South Pacific from the east coast of Australia 

 to Juan Fernandez, and it may therefore be expected to be found 

 eventuall}^ in the New Zealand seas. 



This fish is the second species of true C allanthias as yet des- 

 cribed, for, as I shall endeavour to show below, the Tasmanian 

 fish commonly known as Callanthias allporti must be removed 

 from that genus From the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean 

 C. peloritanus our species may be distinguished as follows : — 



a. Depth of body equal to length of head, 3J to 3f in total 

 length; eye twice the length of snout, 2g to 2§ in the 

 head ; maxillary extending to below the middle of the 

 eye, its distal width \ of the eye ; lateral line 22-25, 

 ending below last dorsal ray ... ... peloritanus. 



* "The necessity for raising the net was brought about by the fact of the 

 trawl showing indications of having met with some obstruction.. Wlien 

 hauled up it was shown that the cod-end of the net was torn slightly and 

 that the foot-line was broken at the specially weakened part." And again, 

 "They were probably netted among rocks, as obstructions were met with 

 which rendered the raising of the trawl a necessity." (Waite, I.e. pp. 9 

 and 31). 



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