BY WILLIAM MACLEAY, F.L.S. 365 



Megalops. — Upper jaw sliorter than lower, abdomen rounded, 

 an osseous gular plate, scales largo. Si3ecies — Megalops cyprmoides. 



Chanos. — Mouth small, toothless, abdomen Hat, gill membranes 

 entirely united, scales small. Species — Chanos salmoneus. 

 I shall now proceed to give a detailed account of each species 



in the order in which I have placed them in the above synopsis. 



* 



1. Engraulis antarcticus, Casteln. 



Proc. Zool. and Acclim. Soc. Victoria, Vol. 1, p. 186. 



There is little doubt, I think, that this is identical with the 

 Fish mentioned by Grunther, Cat. Vol. 7, p. 386, as coming from 

 Tasmania, and which he makes out to be merely a variety of 

 Engraulis encrasicholas, the well known anchovy of Europe. Dr. 

 Grunther gives his variety a name (antipodumj, which looks very 

 much like a belief in its specific character. Count Castlenau 

 gives the following description of this Fish in the volume cited : — 

 " The height of body seven and one-quarter times in the total 

 length ; head, four and one-quarter in the same ; eye, three and 

 one-fifth in length of head ; the muzzle considerably longer than 

 the mandibula and embracing it, the upper jaw presents a line 

 of very minute and equal teeth, and the lower one has a similar 

 line of still smaller ones. The dorsal fin is placed at an equal 

 distance from the snout and the base of the caudal ; it is as high 

 as the body, and of fifteen rays — the first much shorter than the 

 others, and the second and fifth rather longer than the following ; 

 caudal fin strongly bifurcated, the lateral rays being about 

 one-third longer than the height of the body ; it is formed of 

 twenty long rays, and five or six shorter ones on each side ; anal 

 fin rather lower than the dorsal, having twelve rays of which 

 the first is short. From the posterior end of the anal the 

 distance to the lateral root of the caudal is contained three times 

 in the distance from its beginning to the end of the mandibula, 

 and twice from the superior root of the caudal to the anterior 



