crosses the operculum and base of the pectoral, the other 

 two run from the orbit over the cheek and suboperculuni. 

 The vertical fins are spotted. Some specimens measured a 

 third more than the one having the following 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length from upper lip to end of caudal fin 4-20 inches. 



„ „ anus 2-00 „ 



„ „ gill-opening 1-15 „ 



Height of body behind the pectorals 0-86 „ 



Thickness there 0o8 „ 



„ at the gill-covers 0t)3 „ 



Height of tail 0-50 „ 



Thickness of tail near base of caudal O'UJ „ 



Length of caudal fin 0-80 „ 



H.\B. Port Essington, north end of Australia. 



NoTOTHENiA. RichardsoH. 



Ch. Gen. Forma Eleotridihus necnon Tradiiiiis rel 



Percibus quodammodo similis. Corpus e capUe turnido 



ventreque prominulo in caudam compressam sensim 



macrescens. 

 Os modicum, terminale. Labia tumida, rejlexa. Inter- 



niaxillaria ossa parum prolractiUa. Maxilla sub os 



preorhitale recedeiis, apice tamen lafiori ultra extenso 



hinc ad angulum oris patefacto. 

 SquamaB satis magna. 

 Linea lateralis ante Jinem pimue dorsi seciindw diffracta, 



infra resumpta denique ad basin pinncc candce desinens. 

 Preoperculum porosum, incrme, acie sonicinulari libera. 

 Os operculare prope angulum ejus superum emarginatum, 



nee tamen in pisce recenti angulos acutos ostendetis. 

 Membrana branchiostega radiis sex sustentata, aperturam 



satis magnam operiens. 

 Dentes mandibulorum breves, acerosi, intcquales, slipati. 

 Palatum linguaque Iceves. 

 Pinna; ventrales jugulares: pectorales magna, rotundata: 



pinna dorsi prior radiis panels Jiexilibus sustentata ; 



dorsi secunda priori approximata, pinnaque ani longa, 



cequales. 

 Caeca pylorica circiter quinque. 

 Vesica pneumatica nulla. 

 Cranium convexum, lave. 



NoTOTHENi.\ coRiicEPs. Richardson. 



Ch. Spec. N. capite coriaceo, papilloso rugosoque ; 

 pinna cauda truncatd ; membrana branchiostega 

 albidd. 



Radii:— Br. 6; D. 5| — .34; A. -27; C. 12, i.; P. 17; 



V. 1|5. 



Plate III., fig. 1 and 2, natural size. 



Kerguelen's Land, lying in the 49th parallel of south 

 latitude, and 70th degree of east longitude, or directly 

 southward of the Indian Ocean, and far from other islands 

 of any magnitude, is skirted by a belt of sea-weed, among 

 which our navigators obtained many examples of three 

 different species of fish belonging to the genus charac- 



terised above as a new form. The present species was 

 taken also at the Auckland Islands, in the 51st parallel, 

 and due south of New Zealand. Other species frequent 

 Cape Hora, and one was procured among the ice, within the 

 Antarctic circle, near the 155th meridian, west. The de- 

 signation* of the genus has reference to its high southern 

 habitat, where it is probably represented by one or more 

 species in almost every degree of longitude. 



I have not been able satisfactorily to detennine the 

 family to which Notothenia belongs. Jn many of its cha- 

 racters it coincides with Eleginus, whieh is associated by 

 Cuvier with the Scianida. They agree in having jugular 

 ventrals, only six gill-rays, and no air-bladder, particulars 

 that seem to indicate a want of affinity with the true 

 Scianida, which are remarkable for the development of 

 their air-bladders, and have cavernous crania, very different 

 from the smooth, rounded skull of a Notothenia. The 

 flexibility of the spinous rays of this genus, the open pores 

 on the preoperculum and lower jaw, and the close simi- 

 larity of its ventrals and general habit to Eleotris, induced 

 me to place it among the Gobiida, next to the latter genus ; 

 but the existence of the aberrant form of Notothenia } 

 rossii, which has short, stiff, blunt, though not stout rays, 

 in the first dorsal, renders this collocation less satisfactory. 



I have not had access to any specimen of Eleginus, for 

 the pmpose of instituting a comparison with Notothenia, 

 but judging from the figure in the Histoire des Poissons, 

 (plate 115,) and that in the Voyage de la Coquille of 

 Eleginus maclorinus, the general habit of the two genera 

 is dissimilar. Eleginus has a bluff snout, more like a 

 Sciana ; its maxillary, considerably enlarged in the middle, 

 glides under a square preorbitar, its head is extensively 

 scaly, and its gill-plate is dissimilar in form. The figure 

 in the Histoire des Poissons differs from that in the 

 Voyage de la Coquille, in the lateral line being repre- 

 sented as continuous ; and though the specimens from 

 which the fonner drawing M'as made are stated to have 

 been imperfect, yet the continuous line seems unques- 

 tionably to be proper to Eleginus, for it is assigned in 

 the Histoire des Poissons to two other species, closely 

 resembling maclorinus, and M. Lesson states that his figure 

 is incorrect in this point, and in some others. The inter- 

 rupted lateral line, therefore, is a ready mark by which to 

 know Notothenia fi'om Eleginus. 



In Notothenia coriiceps the head constitutes exactly a 

 fourth part of the length of the fish, caudal fin included, 

 and is convexly conical, with all the corners rounded off, 

 the snout and upper lip forming the rather obtuse apex. 

 The body is thickest at the pectorals, where the height and 

 width are about equal, and is much compressed beyond 

 the anus, which is in the middle of the fish, caudal ex- 

 cluded. Behind the dorsal and anal fins the height of the 

 tail is thrice its thickness. The profile descends in a con- 

 vex curve from the first dorsal, with a moderate flattening 

 of the cranium, and a sudden drooping of the upper lip, 

 beneath the end of the snout. The belly is rather tumid, 

 and when the blunt tongue is depressed, the integument 

 bulges out between the limbs of the lower jaw. The cir- 

 cular orbit is situated high up, and as near again to the 



