OCCASIONAL NOTES 53 



II.— FISHES. 



Bascanichthys pinguis, Gilnther. 



We have received from Mr. C. Chute, an Ophichthyian Eel taken 

 at Rose Bay, on the southern shores of Port Jackson. It is of 

 the genus Bascanichthys, Jordan and Davis, and without doubt 

 identical with Ophichthys pinguis, Gilnther.^ On mentioning this 

 to Mr. J. D. Ogilby, he suggested that his Bascaiiichthys heinizona,'^ 

 might also be the same species : together we made the necessary 

 comparison, and found it to be so. Mr. Chute's specimen is there- 

 fore the second record for Port Jackson. The species will be 

 known as Bascanichthys pinguis, Giinther, the type of which was 

 described from the Solomon Islands. 



MoNACANTHUs MOSAicus, Ramsay & Ogilby. 



In November last, Mr. J. A. Boyd, of Eden, Twofold Bay, 

 wrote: — "I send you two dried Leatherjackets caught in the 

 lake here. Neither I, nor a couple of other old fishermen, have 

 seen anything like them before." These, I find, to be M. 

 7nosaicus, which has its distribution thus extended considerably 

 southward, attaining almost the limits of the State. It was 

 previously known only from Port Jackson, and olf Wati Moli 

 whence an example was trawled by the "Thetis" Expedition. 



Mr. Boyd's remarks support the conclusion that it is a rare 

 species on our coast ; and in reply to my queries he further writes : — 

 "Lake Curato, like most of the coastal lagoons, is sometimes closed 

 and at others open to the sea. For the last nine months it has 

 been open, but the mouth is getting very shallow. The fish seems 

 rare here, for though I have made many hauls, I got but one in 

 the seine, the other was taken in a meshing net." 



Prototroctes MARiENA, Guuther. 

 Of this species, known from Tasmania and Southern Victoria, 

 we have an example taken in New South Wales. It was obtained 

 for us in the Snowy River, near Mount Kosciusko, by our generous 

 donor Mr. A. M. N. Rose. 



1 Giinther— Cruise ' Curacoa,' 1873, p. 430, pi. xxxv. 



2 Ogilby— Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xxii., 1897, p. 248. 



