388 Transactions. 



• 



pounds, and was about 6 ft. long. I attempted to tow it home, but was 

 compelled by heavy sea and head wind to cut it adrift. It was accompanied 

 by about a dozen small bright-coloured (mauve is as near as I can describe 

 it) fish from 8 in. to 15 in. long, which, for want of a better name. I called 

 ' pilots.' " 



I find the fishes to be examples of the genus Centrolophus, and thev 

 measure 381 mm. and 310 mm. in length respectively. I naturallv turned 

 to C. maoricus as the probable species, and also examined a large specimen 

 taken at Sumner, near Christchurch, in 1903. This latter is preserved in 

 the Canterbury Museum, and measures 783 mm. in length ; it was described 

 by Hutton and referred to C. hritannicus. 



In 1902 Regan reviewed the genus, and admitted three species — namely, 

 C. hfitannicus, C. niger. and C. maoricus : he had not, however, seen examples 

 of the last-named. Kolombatovic has since named a species C. corcyrensis* 

 but I am not able to consult the description. Leaving this out of the ques- 

 tion, therefore, the distinguishing differences appear to be slight, and are 

 expressed by Reganf in his synopsis of the species. 



C. hritannicus% is characterized by a larger nimiber of rays in the dorsal 

 and anal fins, and by the lateral line having a short curve above the pectoral. 



C. niger^ and C. maoricus\\ agree in respect of the fin-rays, also as regards 

 the lateral line ; the latter has the posterior half of the dorsal slightly 

 emarginate, and has a somewhat shorter pectoral. It may be found that 

 the two are not distinct. 



The Kaikoura specimens substantially agree with C. niger, differing 

 only in the smaller number of scales in the lateral line, and with this species 

 I therefore identify them ; and this leads me to think that the character 

 of the dorsal rays in C. maoricus may have been an individual or accidental 

 feature. 



As already pointed out by Hutton,^ the Sumner example is allied to 

 C. hritannicus ; but for the present I propose to regard it as distinct, cha- 

 racterized by the much greater number of fin-rays, and by the long curve 

 of the lateral line. 



B. VII ; D. X, 47 ; A. Ill, 35 ; V. 1, 5 ; P. 19 ; C. 15 4-8. L. lat. 240 ; 

 L. tr. 23 + 60. 



Length of head, 5-2 ; height of body, 4-8 in the length ; diameter of 

 eye, 4-6 ; interorbital space equal to the length of the snout and 3-9 in the 

 head : nostrils confluent, without septum, the orifice with a narrow rod- 

 like vertical bar ; the cavity is close to the end of the snout, and separated 

 from the eye by a space equal to two-thirds its diameter : the maxilla 

 reaches to the front margin of the eye : teeth small, in a single series, very 

 regularly disposed. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth ; gill-rakers moderate 

 in length, and thick, 5 on the upper and 12 on the lower limb of the first 

 arch. No pseudobranchife. 



The dorsal fin arises above the root of the pectoral, and the length of 

 its base is 1-2 in the total; the spines are very low, increase regularly in 



* Kolombatovic, Glasnik Naravosl., dnizt. xiii, p. 30 (fide Zool. Rec. 1902, 

 Pisces, p. 33). 



t Regan, Ann. jVIag. Nat. Hist. (7), x, 1902. p. 194. 

 j Giinther, Ann. ilag. Nat. Hist. (3), v\, 1860, p. 46. 

 §Graelin, Syst. Nat., eel. xiii, 1789, ]). 1321. 

 I! Ogilby, Rec. Aiist. Mus., ii, 1893, ]). 64. 

 Tf Hiitton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxxvi, 1904, p. 149. 



