44 RECORDS 0¥ T E AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



wide distribution, members of the Labrid;e usually inhabit rocky 

 shores, and are frequently very local. An exception is when a 

 species occurs in an island studded area, for by numerous short 

 journeys it may stray from shore to shore, and so spread itself 

 over an extensive ocean. We can so explain the wide distribution 

 of many coast fishes in Polynesia. 



Between the eastern fringe of this island-area and the western 

 coasts of America is a great expanse of open sea; it does not 

 possess an island which a shore tish might use as a stepping-stone 

 to the land beyond. We should thus expect to find — and experience 

 teaches us this is so — that few but the pelagic and bathybic forms 

 traverse this unbroken oceinic area. 



Another bar to the shore-fishes, and to a certain extent the 

 pelagic forms also, is the Antarctic drift of cold water, named 

 Humbolt's current, which fljws northward along the American 

 coast. 



The Novacula Labroids are subject to considerable variation in 

 colour, and the sexes of the same species may be of quite different 

 colouration. Thus, while the males of /. rniindicorpus are strikingly 

 ornamented, the females, first described, are quite plain. 



The only specimen we possess of /. cacatua has been partially 

 gutted. I am, therefore, unable to determine the sex. 



ScARUS PYRRHOSTETHUS, Richardson. 

 Pseudoscarns, sp., Ogilby, Aust. Mus. Mem., ii., 1889, p. 22. 



A specimen, 350 mm. in length, is identified by Mr. Whitelegge 

 with the large example (26 inches) tajcen by the Museum party 

 and recorded as Pseudoscarus sp. This fish was not preserved. 



Notwithstanding the difficulty and consequent uncertainty of 

 satisfactorily determining metnbers of the Scarina?, I have no 

 doubt that our example is correctly referred to Scamis pyrrhos- 

 tethus, Rich. 



Of Pseudoacar^is 3 or di-AU and Evermann write'':— " This genus 

 differs from Scarus, as here understood, chiefly in the deep green 

 or blue colour of its highly modified jaws and teeth." This 

 feature, if unsupported by other characters, seems rather slight 

 for generic distinction and presupposes that the teeth are naturally 

 coloured, and not stained by some particular coral or seaweed 

 upon which the fish may habitually feed. The teeth of the Port 

 Jackson Shark ( Ileterodontus philippi, Lacepede), are usually of 

 a purplish hue, due to the habit of feeding upon the Echinoderm 

 ( Centrostejihauus rodAjc.mi, Agassiz), the handling of whose spines 

 at once stains the fingers their characteristic colour. If admitted, 

 it necessitates the removal of »S'. pyrroatethus from Pseudoscarus, 

 where it was placed by Bleeker. 



15 .Jorflan and Evermann — Loc. cit., p. 1655. 



