94 NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN FISHES, 



included; mouth with moderate, nearly horizontal cleft, the pre- 

 maxillaries extending backwards almost as far as the maxillaries; 

 maxillary reaching to the vertical from the posterior margin of 

 the eye, expanded and truncated behind, its length four-ninths of 

 that of that of the head, its width three-tenths of its length. 

 Jaws with a band of small conical teeth, which are divided into 

 two series by a median longitudinal groove, each series consisting 

 of two or more rows; vomer and palatines toothed. Nostrils 

 widely separated, the anterior situated near the tip of the rounded 

 snout, the posterior in front of the middle of the eye; an open 

 pore, similar in appearance to the posterior nostril, above and a 

 little behind the front margin of the eye. Eye large, its diameter 

 one-third of the length of the head; interorbital region convex, 

 its width equal to the length of the snout and two-ninths of the 

 length of the head. Opercular spine strong and acute, its exposed 

 portion two-fifths of the diameter of the eye. 



The dorsal fin commences above tlie middle of the pectoral, the 

 distance between its origin and the extremity of the snout being 

 3-S-, that between the origin of the anal and the snout 2'i in the 

 total length; the rays of both fins increase in length posteriorly, 

 the longest being on either side of the caudal fin, and as long as it: 

 ventral inserted below the anterior third of the orbit, and extending 

 when laid back beyond the base of the pectoral, the length of the 

 longer filament four-fifths of that of the head: pectoral pointed, four- 

 sevenths of the head, and extending about two-thirds of the 

 distance between its base and the vent : caudal very small, 

 rounded, about half the diameter of the eye in length. Scales 

 very small, deeply imbedded. 



Pale gray-green, everywhere powdered with microscopic darker 

 dots, except along a broad lateral band, the cheeks, preopercles, 

 undersurface of head, and abdominal region, the latter being 

 silvery; occiput with a reddish-brown tinge and the dots coalescent 

 into small round spots; the dots along the base of the dorsal and 

 anal fins similarly coalescent into a narrow dark streak : irides 

 pale blue. 



