510 DESCRIPTIYE CATALOaUE OF ArSTRALIAN FISHES, 



clear up tlie mystery whicli yet hangs over tlie ages of our gigantic 

 Eiicalypts. He lias already accomplished a great work in 

 publishing seven decades of his 'Eihcalijptograpliia. May he be 

 spared by a kind Providence to bring his labours to completion. 



Descriptiye Catalogue of the Fishes of Australia. 



By William INIacleay, F.L.S., &c. 



Part II. 



Division II. ACANTH. BEEYCIFOEMES. 



Body compressed, oblong or elevated; head withlarge muciferous 

 cavities, covered with thin skin only, Yentral fins thoracic, with 

 one spine and generally more than five soft rays. 



Family X. BEEYCIDiE. 



Genus Moxocexteis, B1. 



Muzzle blunt, round, protruding, with the cleft of the mouth 

 beneath ; eye moderate. Yilliform teeth in the jaws and on the 

 palatine bones, none on the vomer. Eight branchiostegals, 

 opercles scarcely denticulated ; suborbital bones with radiating 

 ridges. Scales large and forming a coat of mail ; several isolated 

 spines before the dorsal. Yentrals with two short rays, caudal 

 fin not forked. 



Japan and Australia. 



313, MoxocENTRis japoxicus, Cuv. & Yal. 

 Gunth. Cat. Fishes I., p. 9.— Bleek, Atl. Ichth. Trachich.,pl. 2,f.4. 

 1). 6/11. A. 10. P. 13. Y. 1/2. L. lat. 13. L. transv. 2/4. 

 Anterior dorsal and ventral spines very strong and thick. Head 

 shorter than the height of the body. 

 Port Jackson, very rare. 



