Zoology.} NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. {_Fhhef. 



Plate 43, Fig. 1. 



CROSSORHINUS BARBATUS (Lm. sp.). 

 The Carpet Shark. 



[Genus CROSSORHINUS (Mull, and Henle). (Sub-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Pisces. 

 Order Plagiostomata. Section Selachoidei. Fam. ScylliidEe.) 



Gen. Char. — Two dorsal fins, without spines, the 1st just behind the ventral, the 2nd 

 in front of the anal, which is close to the caudal. Tail small. Head broadly rounded with 

 numerous, flat, skinny appendages on the sides. Eyes very small. Spiracles extremely large, 

 lunate, nearly equalling the gill-openings, a little behind and below the eye. Nasal and buccal 

 cavities confluent ; a free nasal cirrus. Mouth opening nearly at the anterior edge of the head, 

 upper and lower lips well developed. Teeth nearly similar throughout in both jaws ; of a central 

 cusp, sub-compressed, conical, narrow, pointed ; base moderate, without cusps, but with a small 

 median lobe pointing to the base. Gill-openings very small, the 4th and 5th rather smaller 

 and closer than the others, and situated behind the anterior edge of the pectoral fin. Japan 

 and Australasia.] 



Description. — Broadly ovate, body slig-htly depressed as far as the dorsal, 

 slig'htly compressed as far as the tail. Tail rather abruptly narro^ved, small. Two 

 large, three-branched nasal cirri, one at inner base of each nostril, behind which, 

 along a line to a little beyond corner of mouth, are 6 flat, more or less lobed, 

 skinny appendages ; a 6th, much larger, wider, flatter, bifid or trifid one halfway 

 to the anterior gill-opening ; and a 7th, slightly smaller, halfway between the 6th 

 and the gill-opening. A prominent ridge over and behind each eye, having 2 

 small lobes on the anterior end over the eye. Distance between the dorsals about 

 equal to the length of the base of the anterior one. Color: ground-color of entire 

 body a brownish ashy grey ; plain on the whole of the under surface, but thickly 

 spotted with two shades of rich brown on the top and sides of the head, the lighter 

 of these brown tints enlarging from behind the eyes to the extremity of the tail on 

 the whole of the upper surface of the body and fins into large, irregular patches, 

 leaving jagged, irregidar, unequal cloudings of the greyish ground color, with small 

 spots of the darker brown irregularly scattered round the edges of the light patches ; 

 the largest of these light-grey mottled s])ac(3s with dark-brown spotted edges are 

 disposed in conspicuous transverse patches on the tail. 



Reference. =:>S^ttaZws harhatus (Lin.), S. N., p. 1493; =5. hiatus, Bl. & Schn., 

 p. 137 ; =S. appendiculatus (Shaw), Nat. Misc., t. 727; ^Crossorhinus barbatus 

 (Miill. and Henle), Syst. Besch. Plagiostomen, p. 21, t. 5. 



The following are the measurements of the male figured specimen : — 



Measurements. 



Length from tip of snout to distal end of caudal 



„ „ „ anterior edge of anterior dorsal 



J, „ „ anterior edge of second dorsal 



„ „ „ anterior edge of pectoral 



,, „ „ anterior edge of ventral... 



„ „ „ anterior edge of anal 



„ of anterior edge of pectoral 



„ of posterior margin of pectoral 



„ of anterior edge of ventral ... 



[15] 



