92 MEMOIES OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OE SCIENCES. 



II. 



PEETIOUS CATALOGUES OP NEW ZEALAND FISHES. 



The fishes of few countries have been studied with more zeal and ability (so for as mere specific 

 characters are concerned) than have those of New Zealand by resident naturalists. Some of the 

 species of that group were among the first known of the southeni hemisphere, and of no region of 

 that hemisphere are the fishes now better known. Six catalogues of the species have appeared 

 viz: 



1. JOHANN EEINHOLD FOKSTEE. 



M. E. Blochii, , Systema Iclitbyologiae ioonibus ex illustratimi. — Post obitum auctorls opus inchoatum abaolvit 



correxit, intcrpolavit lo. Gottlob Schueuler, Saxo. — Beroliui, 1801. 



In this work were first published from the MSS. of Forster his desciiptions of new species. 



5 2. 



Desoriptiones Animalium quae in itinere ad maris australis terras per annos 1772 1773 et 1774 suscepto collegit 

 observavit et delineavit loamies Ruiubold Forster. . . nunc demum editae auetoritate et impensis academiae 



litterarum regiae Beroliuae curante Henrico Lfchtenstein Berolini ex oiificina academica. mdcccxliv. — 



Vendit Dnramleri llbraria. [8vo, xiii (11.) -f- 424 pp.] 



In this work, Forster's descriptions are given approximately in the order in which they were 

 made on the spot, and consequently they are brought together under two periods when Cook 

 visited New Zealand during his second voyage, viz : March, May, and June, 1773 (pp. 112-148), 

 and October, 1774 (pp. 301-310). 31 species were described. 



2. Dr. John Eichardson. 



Report on tbe present state of the Icbthyology of New Zealand. By John Richardson, M. n., F. R. .s., etc., Inspector 

 of Naval Hospitals, at Haslar. ^Report of the twelfth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science; held at Manchester in June, 1842, (pp. 12-30, 1843). 



This contains 91 species arranged according to the classification of Cuvler. 



List of fish hitherto detected on the coasts of New Zealand, by John Eichardson, M. D., Inspector of Hospitals at 

 Haslar; with the descriptions, by J. E. Gray, Es(i., and Dr. Richardson, of the )iew species brought home 

 by Dr. Reiclienbach. ^Travels in New Zealand; with contributions to the Geography, Geology, Botany, 

 and Natural History of that country. By Ernest Diefifenbach, M. D., (vol. ii, pp. 206-228, 1843). 



The second edition of Eichardson's report contains 92 nominal species, the addition to the 

 former list being "(85) Garcharias (Prionodon) maoo Miiller and. Henle." Long descriptions of 

 ^'{51) Menieroccetes acanthorhynchus C and V .^^ "(02) HcmlrlKDitphvs marginatus Lacepede," and 

 "(73) Ehombus plebius Solander" are added. The descriptions are by Eichardson, the only justi- 

 fication for the claim of "descriptions by J. E. Gray, Esq., and Dr. Eichardson" being the incor- 

 poration of the brief notices of Galaxias fasciatus and Anguilla Dieffenbachii by Gray, originally 

 published in his " Zoological Miscellany." There are various minor differences between the two 

 catalogues. Several species admitted were not entitled to a place in the New Zealand fauna. 



3. PlETER BLEEKER. 



Over eenige Visschen van Van Diemensland. Door Dr. P. Bleelcor to Batavia. Uitgegeven door de Koninklijke 

 Akademic van Wetenschappen Amsterdam C. G. Van der Post. 1855. [4to, title -f 31 pp., 1 folded pi.] 



This memoir was prefaced by a comparative enumeration of the fishes of (1) Australia or 

 "Nova Hollandia," (2) New Zealand, (3) Tasmania or Van Diemensland, (4) Norfolk island, and 



