260 DESCRIPTIONS OF AUSTRALIAN FISHES, 



LovETTiA SEALii Johnston. 

 (Plate XXXV., fig.2.) 



Haplochiton sealii Johnston, Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasm., 1882(1883), 

 p. 128; Id., Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, ix., 1884, p.54. 



D. 8-9; A. 19-20; P. 11-12; V. 7; C. 16. Head 4-7 in the 

 length to the hypural. Eye 4-2-4-36, greatest depth 2 in the 

 head. 



Body elongate, compressed, and a little quadrilateral, the back 

 and belly being somewhat flattened : it is naked, and there are 

 about fifty- three myomeres between the operculum and the 

 hypural. The lateral line is marked by a series of pores in a 

 linear depression along the middle of the sides. The head is flat 

 above, and the bony interorbital space is equal to about two- 

 thirds the diameter of the eye. Snout as long as, or a little 

 longer than the eye. Nostrils large, and placed on the supero- 

 lateral angle of the snout; the first is in the middle of its length, 

 the other nearer the eye. Maxillary reaching to the anterior 

 third or fourth of the eye, and slightly expanded behind. Lower 

 jaw projecting well beyond the upper. Lower preopercular 

 border free, the hinder covered with skin. Operculum with a 

 long skinny lobe which overlaps the base of the pectoral. 



Teeth proportionately large, in single rows in each jaw. ' A 

 large one on each side of the symphysis of the upper jaw, followed 

 by much smaller ones which extend along the whole premaxillary 

 border. They are larger in the lower jaw, and increase in size 

 backwards. There are four very large, curved ones in a row on 

 each side of the tongue. There is a stout tooth on the anterior 

 part of each palatine, and two or three more a little farther back 

 below the anterior part of the eye. 



Origin of the ventrals behind the middle of the distance be- 

 tween the tip of the snout and the hypural, and their tips do not 

 quite reach to the vent; all the rays are divided, and the third 

 and fourth are the longest. Origin of the dorsal behind that 

 of the ventrals, and the base of the last ray is above or in front 

 of their tips; the two or three anterior rays are simple, and the 

 third or fourth is the highest. The base of the anal is long, and 

 there is a space between its front ray and the genital papilla; the 



