Zoology.} NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Fishes. 



caudal iu the present fish and Shaw's figure. Furthermore, Dr. 

 Gray, examining the same specimen (as quoted in Low's Fishes of 

 Madeira, p. 65), says, " There are only 3, or 4 at most, spines in 

 front of dorsal," and if the small anterior dorsal spine which I 

 count in the present fish was possibly, according to such an accurate 

 observer, present in Shaw's type, it may have been overlooked by 

 Dr. Giinther, as it is little bigger than a scale, and applied so closely 

 to the base of the second as to be easily overlooked. I count 12 

 scales of the large abdominal serration, but the anterior one 

 between the bases of ventral fins is so obtusely keeled, or little 

 compressed, that it might not be counted by some observers ; and 

 Shaw's figure seems to me to indicate 11 of these. Count Castle- 

 nau, in the description of the single specimen known to him 

 (Proc. Lin. Soc. N. S. Wales, vol. iii, p. 364), counts 4 spines to 

 the dorsal, but only 2 spines to the anal, and 10 scales to the ser- 

 rated ventral keel (Mr. Macleay, Des. Cat. Aust. Fish, p. 146, says 

 9 to 11). His statement that there are nO teeth on the palate 

 bones is to me at present inexjnicable. Mr. Macleay, in his excel- 

 lent work above quoted, proposes the new name T. Jacksonie?isis 

 for the New South Wales specimen described by Count Castlenau 

 as T. Australis, on account of those differences from Shaw's 

 specimen as described by Dr. Giinther ; but for the reasons indi- 

 cated I think it better to retain the old name, pending further 

 examination of the type specimen, which might more fully warrant 

 the establishment of a distinct species. 



The tongue is so closely connected to the subjacent parts as 

 almost to warrant the statement of some writers that it is absent ; 

 its surface is smooth. 



The only specimen I have ever seen is that figured, which was 

 presented to the National Museum by Mr. Jenkins, the fishmonger, 

 of Swanston-street, who has contributed many rarities to the collec- 

 tion. Described by Shaw originally from a New South Wales 

 specimen collected by White nearly a century ago, no second 

 specimen has been seen since until the present one and that 

 described bv Count Castlenau. Cuvier and Valenciennes, in their 

 great " Histoire Naturelle des Poissons," have had to construct 

 a description from Shaw's figure, no example existing in the 



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