242 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



in a Lagoon near Brisbane, had been sent to me by Mr. Staiger, 

 and that by its absence of teeth and its general form, it seemed 

 to belong to the Cyprinidce and to come near Leuciscus. 



The curious form, of this fish, and what was said of its re- 

 markable edible qualities, had caused some interest at Brisbane, 

 and when in the month of June, 1876, I went to that capital of 

 Queensland, it was arranged between Mr. Staiger and the 

 Director of the Botanical Gardens, on whose land the Lagoon is 

 situated, that able fishermen should be called, and that the 

 waters of the land should be thoroughly searched. During this 

 operation, which proved a complete failure, and only produced a 

 number of very large Mullets, it was found that the fish had 

 been caught in the upper waters of the Brisbane River, and had 

 been put in the Lagoon many years before. I had given up all 

 hopes of being able to solve this little scientific mystery, when a 

 fisherman who was in the habit of bringing me all the sorts he 

 did not see habitually, brought me a specimen. I immediately 

 recognised it as the so-much desired fish. It had been caught 

 in the upper part of the Brisbane River. 



It was then easy to see that the fish had small teeth that had 

 escaped the attention of the draughtsman, and that it belonged 

 to the Glupeidce, and came very near to Ghatoessus. By its long 

 tapering maxillary, it is also allied to Gnathobolus of Cuvier, 

 which M. Valenciennes placed immediately before Ghatoessus, and 

 Dr. Gunther unites with Pristigaster, near which the great French 

 Naturalist had placed them. It seems by its characters to con- 

 stitute a particular groupe in the family to which it belongs ; the 

 genus can be characterised as follows : Mouth very wide, opening 

 upwards, the lower jaw being much longer than the upper one ; 

 maxillary very large, broad, moveable, rounded in form of a 

 sword ; teeth fine, and very numerous on a line in the jaws ; they 

 also extend on the vomer, and palatines, in three large patches of 

 which the central one has the form of a heart, and the lateral ones 

 are elongated ; the opercle rounded, the single dorsal is inserted 

 a little behind the centre of the fish ; its lower ray is prolongated 

 as in Ghatoessus, and Megalops ; it is formed of eighteen rays, of 



