Zoology.-] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Fishes. 



Measurements. 



Total length from snout to end of caudal 



„ of head 



Depth of head 

 Width of head 

 Length of stem of first ray 



„ broad base of branches ... 



„ each of two long branches 



„ second ray 



,, third ray 



„ space between first and second rays 

 „ „ „ second and third ray 



, „ „ „ third ray and first dorsal fin ray 



„ from mouth to anterior base of pectoral 

 Depth of body 

 Thickness of body 

 Length of dorsal fin 

 Greatest height of dorsal fin 



„ „ „ anal fin ... 



Greatest depth 

 Length of caudal ... 

 Length of longest pectoral rays 

 Length of ventral fin 

 Greatest depth 



Of three specimens before me the only difference is one spine 

 more or less in the anal fin, and in the greater or less number of 

 the large, brown blotches on the body ; the two-pronged, first, long 

 ray with the two, short, lateral flaps at bases of the two prongs 

 at tip of basal filament," being alike in all. 



There can be no doubt of the first filament bearing two long, 

 thick, nearly equal branches or filaments at extremity, and this 

 character allies it to Antennarius histrio and A. tigris only, of all 

 those described by Dr. Guntker and the L. marmoratus of Shaw, 

 which latter need not be considered. From C. histrio, which it also 

 resembles in the colored rays from the eye, it differs in the straight 

 2nd and 3rd dorsal rays, and their not being connected with skin of 

 midline of back, except at base, and in the unspotted fins, and in 

 the skin being smooth, instead of rough with small spines. A. 

 tigris differs in having the 3rd dorsal ray connected to the soft 

 dorsal by a wide skin, its rough spinular surface and the last ray 

 of soft dorsal not reaching, if laid back, as far as base of caudal, 

 and also in the spotted fins. None of the other species described 

 by Cuvier, the French Voyagers, Richardson, Count Castelnau, Dr. 

 Bleeker, or Dr. Giinther, resemble this species at all, and it is the 

 only species of the genus I have as yet met with on our shores. 



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