212 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



Periopthalmus koelreuteri, Pallas. 



The occurrence of thi^ tpecies in such a comparatively high 

 latitude as Perth, is another instance of the more tropical charac- 

 ter of the west than the east coast of Australia. On the east, 

 Castelnau records it* from the entrance of the Brisbane River, 

 south of which it has not been observed. P. australis, Cast., is 

 said to be found on the raud flats of the Richmond River, New 

 South Wales, t Saville Kent, in his paper on the Marine Fauna of 

 Houtman's Abrolhos Islands, | shows how the Abrolhos support a 

 wealth of tropical life, such as Holothurians and the more 

 brilliantly coloured Labroids, familiar to him from Torres Straits 

 and the more northern regions of the Great Barrier Reef. 



Houtman's Abrolhos are of coral growth, a formation met with 

 on the eastern mainland only in much lower latitudes, and in 

 explanation Mr. Saville Kent writes: — "The anomalous character 

 of the marine fauna of Houtman's Abrolhos, as herein defined, 

 can only be accounted for Ijy the assumption that an ocean current, 

 setting in from the equatorial area of the Indian Ocean, penetrates 

 as far south as this island group, and has borne with it the float- 

 ing embryos of the Holothuridse and Coslenterates, etc., that so 

 characteristically distinguish it. A reference to the Admiralty 

 charts, dealing with the ocean currents of this region, supports 

 this interpretation to a considerable extent ; indicating as a 

 matter of fact, a prevailing northerly set along the western coast 

 of Australia, but at the same time a distinct southerly intrusion 

 of the waters of the Indian Ocean at some distance off" shore, down 

 towards and closely approaching Houtman's Abrolhos." 



HOPLEGNATHUS AVOODWARDI, ftp, nOV. 



(Plate xxxvii.) 



B. V. L). xi. II. A. iii. 2. V. i. .5 P 17. C. 17. L. 1. 62. 

 L. tr. 25 - 60. 



Length of head 2-57, of caudal fin 5-76, height of body 2'31, in 

 the total length (caudal excluded). Eye very large, 3"63 in the 

 length of the head, 1"25 in the snout, and TIS in the interorbital 

 space, which is slightly convex. Nostrils approximate, the anterior 

 round, the posterior elongate, its own length in advance of the 

 margin of the eye. The upper profile of the head with a pro- 

 nounced swelling above the anterior nostril, and forming a sharp 

 bony keel on the occiput. Dorsal and ventral profile a gentle 

 curve. Upper jaw the longer. Cleft of mouth medium, almost 

 horizontal, the maxilla extending to within the anterior margin 



* Castelnau— Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., ii., 1878, p. 231. 

 t Ten.- Woods— Fish and Fisheries N.S.W., 1882, p. 27. 

 i Saville Kent— Eep. Brit. Assoc, 1895, p. 732. 



