132 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Hab. Patagonian-Falklands region; Straits of Magellan; southern Chile. 

 No specimens of this species were obtained by the Discovery Expedition, but 

 Mr Bennett has sent 40 specimens (55-185 mm.) from Stanley, Falklands, as well as 



8 others (55-75 mm.) from the West Falklands, collected by Mr Hamilton in March, 

 1932. There are also 8 specimens in the British Museum collection: the type of the 

 species (135 mm.) from the Falklands; the 4 types of Atherinichthys alburnus (120- 

 185 mm.) from the Straits of Magellan; 2 specimens (170, 175 mm.) from Sandy Point 

 (Cunningham); and 1 specimen (170 mm.) from Magellan ('Albatross'). 



The two species described above, both of which are known in the Falkland Islands 

 as "smelt", have been well distinguished by Smitt and Lahille, and Mr Bennett notes 

 that one has a brownish back, the other a bluish. Unfortunately, the specimens sent 

 by him have faded in spirit and it is now impossible to say which of the species has 

 the brown back and which the blue. Mr Bennett points out that the " smelt" is erratic 

 in its movements, and appears in shoals. "The large fish appear to spawn about 

 September or October", he writes, "and in one instance known to me the spot selected 

 was a shallow mud bank in a well-protected and moderately quiet inlet." It is regarded 

 as the best table fish in the Falklands, and occasionally grows to a length of 22 in. 



SCORPAENIDAE 



Sebastodes oculatus (Cuvier and Valenciennes). "Cabrilla." 



Sebastes oculata, Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1833, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ix, p. 466; Guichenot, 1848-9, 

 in Gay, Hist. Chile, Zool. 11, p. 178, pi. iii, fig. 2; Cunningham, 1871, Trans. Linn. Soc. 

 London, xxvn, p. 468; Gunther, 1880, Shore Fish. 'Challenger', p. 20. 

 Sebastes ocellatus, Valenciennes, 1850, in Cuvier, R. Anim., Disciples Ed., Poiss., pi. xxiii, fig. 3. 

 Sebastes capensis (part), Steindachner, 1881, SitzBer. Akad. Wiss. Wien, lxxxiii (i), p. 216. 

 Sebastodes oculatus, Jordan and Evermann, 1898, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., xlvii (2), p. 1832; 

 Delfin, 1901, Cat. Peces Chile, p. 78; Steindachner, 1903, Zool. Jahrb., Suppl. vi, p. 205. 

 ? Sebastodes darwini, Lbnnberg, 1907, Hamb. Magalh. Sammelr., Fische, p. 8. 

 5. v. 31. Fortune Bay, Baverstock Island. Hand line, 22 m.: 2 specimens, 255, 285 mm. 

 St. WS 800. 21-22. xii. 31. 48 15' 45" S, 62 09' 52" W. Commercial otter trawl, 137-139 m.: 

 1 specimen, 295 mm. 



St. WS 813. 13. i. 32. 5i°35'i5"S, 67°i6'i5"W. Commercial otter trawl, 106-102 m.: 



1 specimen, 400 mm. 



Depth of body about 3 in the length, length of head 2^ to 2§. Snout as long as or a 

 little longer than eye, diameter of which is 4 to 4! in length of head; interorbital width 

 § to § diameter of eye. Maxillary extending to below posterior part of eye. 19 to 21 

 gill-rakers on lower part of anterior arch. Dorsal XIII 13 or 14; fifth or sixth spines 

 longest, their length 2-f to 3 in that of head. Anal III 6 (occasionally 7). Pectoral with 



9 + 9 or 10 rays, its length if to if in that of head. Pelvics nearly or quite reaching 

 vent. Brownish ; the back mottled with darker, the pigment tending to be concentrated 

 into 4 or 5 dark blotches ; 4 or 5 more or less definite rounded pale (pink in life) spots 

 on each side, 3 or 4 immediately below the dorsal fin and another on the lateral line 

 about level with the eighth and ninth dorsal spines ; membrane of dorsal fin more or 

 less dusky. 



