554 



NOTE ON THE GENUS APIIRITIS, C.V. 

 Bv J. Douglas Ogilby. 



The genus A])hritis was established in 1831 by Cuvier and 

 Valenciennes* for the reception of a small fish which had been 

 obtained in the " fresh waters of Van Diemen's Land " by the 

 naturalists attached to the Astrolabe, and received the name 

 ui'villii in honour of the commander of the expedition. 



The genus remained monotypic until 1842, in which year 

 Jenynsf described two fishes under the names of A. undulatus 

 and A. porosus, from the Chonos Archipelago and the coast of 

 Patagonia respectively; these fishes Giinther; in 1860, with some 

 hesitation, associated with A. ui'villii. 



In the following year, however, the same author described, § 

 without in any way questioning its generic affinity, a third and 

 very distinct South American species to which he gave the 

 specific name gobio, the diagnosis being drawn up from a dried 

 specimen brought to England by Capt. King from Port Famine, 

 Straits of Magelhaen, whence others were subsequently obtained 

 by the naturalists of the Challenger. 



Finally in 1872 Castelnau|| received from Bass' Straits a fish 

 between which and A . urviUii he professed to find such important 

 differences as to warrant not only specific but generic recognition, 

 and on which, acting on this belief, he therefore bestowed the 

 name Pseudaphritis bassii. Writing in 1890 I redescribed^ this 

 fish from a New South Wales example, and pointed out that the 



* Hist. Nat. Poiss. viii. p. 483, 1831. 

 t Voy. Beagle, Fish. iii. pp. 160-162, 1842. 



t Catal. Fish. ii. p. 243, 1860. 



§ Aim. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) vii. 1861, p. 88. 



II Proc. Zool. & Acclim. Soc. Viot. i. 1872, p. 92. 



1[ Rec. Austr. Mus. i. 1890, pp. 67-69. 



