BY WILLIAM MACLEAY, F.L.S., &C. 461 



have not been able to find that the present species has ever been 

 seen before. I name it after Mr. Sub-Inspector Mulhall, to whom 

 I am indebted for much of my knowledge of the Fishes of this 

 country. 



Kaia australis. n. sp. 



Snout long, produced, roundly pointed, the terminal third 

 covered with spinous granules above and beneath ; the width of the 

 interorbital space one-fourth or nearly so of the distance of the eye 

 from the end of the snout. The profile from the snout to the 

 extremity of the pectoral fin is emarginate on the sides of the 

 snout, then gently sinuate, and again lightly and lengthily emar- 

 ginate. Mouth transverse, straight, teeth in the upper jaw in a 

 semi-lunar patch. Outer pectoral angle rounded, along its edge 

 from in front of the eye to near the angle, a dense band of small 

 granular looking spines, becoming finer towards the angle ; six 

 spines four of them small, in front of the eye ; three larger 

 behind the eye. One strong short spine near the commencement 

 of the vertebral column, the remainder of the back smooth. The 

 disc is one-third broader than the length. A subcutaneous spine 

 can be felt on each side near the commencement of the tail, that on 

 the right side appearing to be behind the other. The tail is 

 considerably shorter than the body measuring from the first spine, 

 and is armed with three rows of strong, acute, recurved spines, for 

 two-thirds of its length, beyond that the spines are continuous only 

 in the central row, but the sides are covered with sharp granules ; it 

 terminates in a point; the spines are much more numerous in the 

 female. The upper lobe of the ventral fin resembles a human 

 hand with the fingers conjoined. The colour is brown on the back, 

 becoming paler on the snout and pectoral fins. Under surface 

 white. 



This is the first instance I have known of a true Raia having 

 been found in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson, though they are 

 not uncommon farther south. In Tasmania and Port Phillip there 

 are two known. Raia Lamprieri of Pdchardson, the Thorn back 

 of the Melbourne fishermen, and Raia rostrata of Castelnau, a 

 species which attains a great size. Another species, Raia nitida 



