136 



DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW GENERA AND SPECIES 

 OF AUSTRALIAN FISHES. 



By J. Douglas Ogilby. 



Macrurrhynchus, gen.nov. 



Body elongate, compressed; head moderate, the snout somewhat 

 pointed, conical, deejD, projecting, convex above; mouth small, 

 prominent, subinferior, with transverse cleft; lips thin; denti- 

 gerous portion of the upper jaw slightly curved, of the lower 

 semicircular; cleft of mouth extending to beneath the middle of 

 the eye; nostrils superior, the anterior pair rather close together, 

 about as far from the eye as from the tip of the snout; the 

 posterior pair more widely separated, midway between the eye 

 and the anterior nostril; no nasal nor orbital tentacles; eyes 

 lateral; interorbital region moderate and Hat. Gill-openings 

 reduced to a small foramen in front of the upper angle of the 

 base of the pectoral. Teeth in a single series in both jaws, fixed, 

 those of the upper well deA^eloped, laterally compressed, of rather 

 unequal length; with the tij)s truncated and slightly bent back- 

 wards; of the lower smaller, more slender and crowded, and of 

 equal length; upper jaw without, lower with an enormously 

 developed tusk-like canine at the outer extremities of the series 

 and fitting into a sheath in the upper jaw when the mouth is 

 closed. One dorsal fin, with the outer border entire, with xii 30 

 rays, the spines flexible, the spinous portion about half as long as 

 the soft, all the rays of which are unbranched, the membrane of 

 the last ray not extending to the caudal fin: anal fin originating 

 beneath the commencement of the soft portion of the dorsal, with 

 30 soft raj's, the tips of which are but slightly inspissate and free: 

 \entrals in contact at their bases, inserted in advance of the 

 base of the pectorals, with i 3 rays: pectorals small and rounded, 

 with 12 equally developed simple rays: caudal emarginate, with 

 the middle ray somewhat thickened. No trace of a lateral line. 



