BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 7-1:1 



a shining metallic gloss; snout, lower surface of head, thoracic 

 and ventral regions lighter; fins pale yellow. 



Distribution: — Tonga-tabu; Lord Howe Island; Kew 

 South Wales. 



Apparently this is a small species : Hollard's example measured 

 50 millimeters and the two from which my description is drawn 

 up were but 48 and 45 respectively. 



I am not fully satisfied as to the identity of this species with 

 M. nitens; Hollard's description of the armature of the dorsal 

 spine does not agree well with that of this fish; he describes it as 

 being provided with three small points in front and stronger ones 

 behind. If he had had the privilege of examining my specimens 

 it seems scarcely possible that he could have overlooked the long, 

 acute, outwardly directed, and conspicuously alternate scales. 

 Asain, he describes the armature of the scales as consisting of 

 'short, olituse, compressed" spines, while in our examples these 

 are long, acute and conical. Both my specimens have 14 pectoral 

 rays instead of 11 or 12 as found by Hollard. 



Should future research necessitate the separation of the two 

 forms I would propose, for the Lord Howe Island and New South 

 Wales fish, the specific name altemans, in allusion to the remark, 

 able alternation of the lateral teeth on the dorsal spine. 



MALACANTHID^. 



Malacanthus hoedtii, Giinther. 



A fine specimen, 282 millimeters long, is in Mr. King's collec- 

 tion, and is a further addition to the fauna of Australasia. The 

 species had previously been recorded from Mauritius, New Guinea, 

 the Louisiade Archipelago, Solomon and Sandwich Islands. 



BLENNIID^. 



Salarias iNSUL.E, sp.nov. 



D. xiii 19. A. 21. 



Depth of body 34, length of head 4|- in the total length; width 

 of head f, depth of head i of its length. Snout subvertical, 



