198 Transactions. 



It was the evident intention of the authors to allude to these cones in 

 naming the species, for on the plate accompanying the description the 

 figures are designated Oreosoma coniferum, whereas in the text the name 

 Oreosoma atlanticu?n is used. 



The New Zealand example exhibits characters which are not referred 

 to in the description of the Atlantic specimen, and these will be men- 

 tioned later. The following is .a description of the fish taken at Lyall 

 Bay :— 



D. VI, 30 ; A. Ill, 28 ; V. I, 7 ; P. 20 ; C. 13 + 4 ; L. lat, 90. 



Length of head, 2-64 ; height of body, 1-3 ; length of caudal, 4-7 in 

 the length ; diameter of eye, 2-27 ; interorbital space, 2-63 ; and length 

 of snout, 2-94 in the head. 



Head compressed, eyes lateral, the supra- and post-orbital ridges armed 

 with a number of denticles, of which one in the middle of the series is 

 larger, forming a short spine. Preopercle very oblique ; a ridge across 

 the opercle. Eyes lateral. Interorbital space flat. Nostrils close together, 

 in front of the upper anterior margin of the orbit ; the anterior nostril 

 large, directed forward. Jaws equal ; mouth protractile ; the cleft sub- 

 vertical. Dentary produced downwards into an acute angle. The maxilla, 

 whose length is less than the diameter of the eye, scarcely reaches the 

 anterior margin of the orbit when the mouth is closed. Gills 4, a small 

 orifice behind the fourth; gill-rakers moderate, bristle-like; pstudo- 

 branchiae present. 



Teeth. — The teeth are extremely small and villiform in character. A 

 narrow band exists in the lower jaw, but no teeth are to be found in the 

 upper jaw ; they are present on the vomer, but there are none on the 

 tongue or palatines. 



The upper and hinder parts of the body are compressed and normal ; 

 a pronounced median keel runs from the occipital region to the origin of 

 the dorsal fin, lying between the swellings on which the dorsal cones are 

 situated. The whole of the ventral portion of the body is enormously, 

 naturally, and permanently distended, so that a section across the body 

 is not unlike that of Lactophrys trigonvs. 



Fins. — The dorsal fin arises midway between the end of the snout 

 and the base of the caudal. Its spines are short, the second and longest 

 being little more than half the diameter of the eye. The first spine is 

 very short, and the second and following are graduated. The longest 

 rays occur behind the middle of the second dorsal, and are nearly as long 

 as the eye. The anal spines are quite small, almost hidden within the 

 folds of the posterior dilatations of the abdomen. The rays are similar to 

 those of the dorsal, but have a somewhat more posterior hinder insertion. 

 The ventrals are noticeably separated, and of considerable length, the 

 slender spine being one-half longer and the first ray twice the length of 

 the orbit. The pectoral is rounded, and its length is equal to the diameter 

 of the eye. The feeble tail is also rounded, and the depth of the slender 

 peduncle is less than half the eye-diameter. 



Scales. — The scales are nowhere imbricate, but form a mosaic, the com- 

 ponents varying greatly in different parts of the body. They are minute 

 on the interorbital space, small on the cheeks and opercles, and on the 

 upper and hinder part of the body. They are larger immediately behind 

 the opercles and on the sides of the body, while those on the ventral surfaces 

 are tubercular. All are 6-sided and concentrically striated. The lateral 

 fine is well marked : it originates behind the operc 1 ^ and rises above the 



