FISHES.— MCCULLOCH. 185 



the soft dorsal and caudal fins alone being crowded ^-ith small 

 dark spots. It is doubtless the form described by Macleay as 

 D. labiosum, the type of which appears to have been lost ; 

 both specimens were collected in Wide Bay, Queensland. 



Locs. — Three to twenty-five miles south-east of Double 

 Island Point, Queensland, 32-33 fathoms. 



Wide Bay, Queensland. 



Plectorhynchus reticulatus, Gunther. 



(Plate liii.) 



• Diagramma reticulatum, Giinther, Brit. Mus. Cat. Fish., i., 

 1859, p. 334. and Id., Ann. Mac Nat. Hist. (3), xx., 

 1867, p. 58. 



D. xiii. 21 ; A. iii. 7 ; V. i. 5 ; P. 17 ; C. 15. About 55 

 rows of scales above the lateral line between its origin and the 

 hypural joint, and 10 between the iateral fine and the base of 

 the fourth dorsal spine. Depth 2.6, head 3.3 in the length 

 from the snout to the hypural joint. Eye slightly longer than 

 the interorbital width, 3.5 in the heacl. Snout longer than 

 the eye, 2.8 in the head. Fifth dorsal spine 2.5, second anal 

 spine 2.1 in the head. 



Dorsal profile much more strongl}' arched than the ventral ; 

 the line from the snout to the first dorsal spine strongly convex. 

 Interorbital space convex. Preorbital bone narrower than 

 the eye. Maxillary reaching backward to below the nostrils, 

 which are close together before the eye ; the anterior with a 

 skinny lobe. Preoperculum evenly denticulate on its posterior 

 border, the angle rounded and almost entire. Operculum 

 with two flat spines. Teeth villiform, in a narrow band in 

 each jaw. Vomer and palatines toothless. Post-temporal 

 bone exposed, serrated. 



Scales finely ctenoid, arranged in obfique rows which extend 

 upward and backward. They extend forward to before the 

 anterior nostril on the upper surface of the snout, and onto 

 the cheeks and opercles, leaving only the preorbital and snout 

 bare. They form the usual sheaths at the bases of the dorsal 

 and anal spines, and cover the lower portions of all the rayed 

 fins except the ventrals ; the latter are provided with a scaly 

 axillary process. Lateral line following the curve of the back, 

 straight on the middle of the caudal peduncle. 



Dorsal spines increasing in height to the fifth, thence de- 

 creasing evenly backwards ; the last spine is subequal to the 

 anterior ray and is not separated from it by a notch : the 

 margin of the soft dorsal is a little rounded, the median rays 

 being longest ; the posterior ones form an obtuse angle. Anal 



