OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 233 



Zoological Society of Victoria for 1872, I found that a large 

 Australian sort, called King Fish, was very nearly allied to it, 

 but having no specimen of the European sort to compare it with, 

 I was led by the study of the best Ichthyological Works to con- 

 sider it as different. Even on studying Dr. Gunther's Work I 

 was led to doubt if it belonged to the genus. 



Since, Professor McCoy has told me that he had compared the 

 Victorian Fish with a specimen of aquila in the Melbourne 

 Museum and that he could find no difference between them ; the 

 Victorian sort is always very scarce, and I had only seen two 

 specimens of it in six years ; both were of very large size. 



During a late stay at Brisbane, Queensland, I was astonished to 

 find that a Scicena was amongst the most common fishes of More- 

 ton Bay, and is considered the best edible Gsh of the country. It 

 is called Deiv-fish, on account of its beautiful silvery grey colour ; 

 the lower parts are white, the first dorsal obscure ; the second 

 with a yellow tinge ; the caudal dark ; ventrals and inside of 

 the mouth, orange colour ; pectorals yellow, with their extremity 

 obscure ; a black spot at the base of the pectorals It attains 

 the weight of fifty pounds. During my stay in the months of 

 June and July, numerous specimens of all sizes were caught 

 every day ; the great majority were of a foot long, or even less ; 

 the prasopercule is slightly denticulated. 



The colours, and particularly the one of the inside of the 

 mouth, make me doubt of the identity of this fish with £. aquila. 



Note. — The caudal fin is pointed at its upper edge, and 

 the lower part is rounded ; the two dorsals are united by a 

 membrane nearly half as high as the last spine of the first dorsal. 



At Sydney this fish is common, and I have seen rather large 

 specimens of it towards the end of summer. It is generally 

 called Jew-fish 



KURTUS GULLIVEEI. 



Height of body contained twice and a half in the total length 

 without the caudal fin ; head, not quite three times and one-third 

 in the same ; the upper profile is convex in front ; very convex, 

 and almost gibbous over the prseopercule, very elevated in front 



