by j. douglas ogilby. 71 



Hyperlophus. 



Hyperlophtis, Ogilby, Rec. Austr. Mus. ii. p. 26, 1892, and 

 Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, xxi. 1896, p. 505 (1897). 



Body oblong or oblong-elongate, more or less compressed. Cleft 

 of mouth oblique, the lower jaw projecting; premaxillaries mode- 

 rately emarginate anteriorly; maxillaries broad. A band of small 

 teeth along the middle of the tongue. Eye rather large, with the 

 adipose lid much less developed in front than behind. Lower 

 limb of preopercle short; suborbital bone longer than deep. Four 

 branchiostegals ; pseudobranchia3 large ; gill-i'akers in moderate 

 number, slender, serrulate. Dorsal fin originating on or behind 

 the middle of the body; anal fin moderate and low, composed of 

 nineteen or paore rays; ventral fins small, with eight rays, inserted 

 in advance of the dorsal; pectorals small and obtusely pointed^ 

 with sixteen rays, the upper ones the longest ; caudal forked. 

 Scales moderate and adherent, with the free margin rounded and 

 pectinated; base of the ventral and pectoral fins naked, of the 

 caudal scaly; an elongate scale in the axil of the ventral; dorsal 

 serrse feeble, not nearly so prominent as those of the abdomen, 

 which originate on the front of the throat; muciferous system 

 little developed and almost confined to the main arteries or greatly 

 developed and extending well on the trunk. Bones of the head 

 but little striated. Vertebrae 47. 



Etymolog y. — vnep, above; \6(l>o^, a crest; in allusion to the 

 dorsal serrature. 



Type. — CJupea spratellides, Ogilby. 



Distributio n. — Coasts of New South Wales and ? Victoria; 

 western shores of South America. 



The genus Hyperlophus naturally divides itself into two sections 

 or subgenera, which may be characterised as follows : — 



a. Body oblong, strongly compressed, its depth equal to or 

 more than the length of the head; ventral fins inserted 

 well in advance of the middle of the body; muciferous 

 system of the head feebly developed; a silvery lateral band 

 (Hyperlophus) . 



Type. — H. spratellides. 



