374 FIVE NEW FISHES FROM THE AUSTRALASIAN REGION. 



measure respectively 75 and 79 millimetres, the smaller of which 

 is broken in two pieces ; they form part of a collection obtained 

 from the Queensland Museum some years since, and were 

 labelled Scleropteryx hicolor ; no description of a fish under this 

 name ever appears to have been published by Mr, De Vis, nor do 

 I consider it advisable to form a new generic name, as it 

 approaches sufficiently close to Castelnau's Ophioclinus, and our 

 knowledge of that genus is so limited. The specific name 

 bicolor is, at least now, after having been so long in spirits, 

 unsuitable, and I have, therefore, named it after its original 

 collector ; the species is a native of Moreton Bay. 



The genus Ophioclinus appears to be most nearly allied to 

 Apodichthys and Anoplarcus ; from the former it differs in the 

 absence of a continuous scaly covering, the presence of an obscure 

 lateral line, the absence of pectorals, &c., while from the latter it 

 differs in the formation of the gill membranes and the dentition. 



The presence of palatine teeth and of short filaments on the 

 snout, as recorded by Castelnau, neither of which characters can be 

 detected in this fish, possibly because of the bad state of my 

 specimens, may eventually necessitate the formation of a genus, 

 but such a coui'se is at present premature. The neglect of 

 Castelnau to even mention the pectorals is negative evidence as 

 to their existence in his genus. 



Type in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. 



Register number, I. 362. 



