34 NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF FISHES, 



Arius mastersi, sp.nov. 



Arius gagorides (not Cuvier & Valenciennes) Macleay, Proc. 

 Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, vi. 1881, p. 213, Port Darwin. 



D. i 7, 0. A. 17. 

 Depth of body 5, length of head 34 in the total length; width 

 of head |- of its length. Eye with superiorly adnate lid, its 

 diameter 6| in the length of the head and 2^ in that of the snout, 

 which is subtruncate and | wider than long. Interorbital region 

 gently rounded, its width | of that of the mouth and |^ of the 

 length of the head. Premaxillary teeth in a wide continuous 

 band, which is slightly emarginate behind and obliquely truncated 

 at the extremities, the width of each half rather more than a 

 third of its length; mandibular band slightly tapering distally; 

 vomerine and palatine teeth in three patches on each side, the 

 vomerine and anterior palatine patches confluent, the former 

 being together much longer than either of the latter; posterior 

 patches oval, narrowly separated from the anterior, the least 

 space between them as wide as one of the patches. Maxillary 

 barbel subequal in length to the head, extending to the middle 

 of or slightly beyond the humeral process; postmental barbel |- to 

 f of the maxillary, inserted somewhat behind and outside the 

 mental, which reaches a little beyond the gill-opening. Cranial 

 shield evenly and coarsely granular, the granulation extending 

 well forward on the snout and downward on the sides to the 

 level of the gill-opening ; the granules are arranged in several 

 regular series behind the occipital groove and on either side of 

 the fontanelle. ISTuchal shield coarsely and evenly granular, its 

 basal width equal to its length which is \ of its distance from the 

 tip of the snout; outer border strongly convex posteriorly, hinder 

 emarginate; dorsal plate rather large, saddle-shaped, its median 

 length 2| in that of the nuchal shield, from which it is separated 

 by a narrow naked interspace. Interorbital fontanelle small ; 

 occipital reduced to a groove, which is half as long as its distance 

 from the nuchal shield. Opercles smooth, truncated inferiorly. 

 Humeral process granular and triangular, extending along the 



