BY W. MACLEAY, F.L.S. • 583 



more numerous and finer ; and the spinous dorsal fin only 1/7. 

 Colour purplish-blue above, white beneath, with a few transverse 

 spots, upper half of pectorals and inner haK of dorsal fin black. 

 Melbourne ; scarce. 



448. Platycephaltjs Eichakdsonii, Casteln. 



Proc. Zool. Soc, Victoria, Vol. I., p. 82. 



D. 1.7/14. A. 14. 



Width of body six times, and length of head three and a-half 

 times in the total length ; orbit five times in the length of the 

 head, or six times to the end of the operculum. Head very flat 

 and broad, rounded in front, the tranverse line before the eyes 

 being once and a-half in the length of the head ; the lower jaw 

 longer than the upper ; the ridges on the top of the head 

 prominent and interrupted ; the prseopercular spines very strong, 

 the lower being a little the longest. Colour olive-brown with 

 numerous crimson spots, sides grey, belly white ; dorsal fins 

 spotted with brown ; caudal, ventral and pectoral fins with 

 transverse lines of orange with crimson spots ; the hinder part of 

 the tail black. 



Melbourne, 



449. Platycephaltjs Staigeri, Casteln. 



Eesearches on the Fishes of Australia, p. 17. 



D. 1.7/11. A. 11. 



Q-eneral form elongate and narrow ; the length of the head is 

 one-third of the total length (without caudal) and its greatest 

 width half of its length ; the eye is four times and one -third in 

 the length of the snout, and the space between the eyes twice 

 and a quarter ; the superocular ridges are very high, sharp, and 

 serrated, forming in front of the eye a sharp hook, and running 

 posteriorly into several radiating ridges. Only one i)r£eopercular 

 spine. Colour almost black, with faint blacker transverse stripes ; 



