454 



.VOTES OK, AND DESCRIPTIONS OP AUSTRALIAN FISHES, 



I'orward from its posterior margin which is minutely lobulated and is divided 

 into two on the median line. Width of the mouth 2.5 in the prooral length. 

 Teeth small without cusps. A broad lobulated flap inside the mouth behind the 

 upper jaw, and five papillae inside the lower one, of which the two outer ones 

 are small and widely separated from the other three. Four anterior giil-slita 

 suhequal in widtli, the second slightly wider tlian the others; the fifth is about 

 three-fourths as wide as the first. 



Length of body 045 mm., length of tail 945 mm., and width of disc 890 mm. 



Colour. — Uniform greyish-brown above, with a row of small white porea 

 on each side of the back. Tail black posteriorly. Lower surfaces white. 



Described and figured from a female specimen which was trawled oil Norah 

 Head, New South Wales, in 20-40 fathoms. A tail of another specimen {Text- 

 fig. 1), together with several of D. hrevicaudatus (Text-fig. 2), were procured 

 from the same locality. 



Text-til^. 3. Sketch of a femule Vasyalis t/ietidji, 70 inches wide, from east of 

 Babel Island, Bass Strait, 60 fathoms. 



Variation. — The number of the spinate tubercles is apparently very variable 

 in this species. They arc few in number in the specimen described, but a strip 

 of skin is preserved in the "Endeavour" collection, which was taken from a 



