16 



colour of the body is greyisli, with a purphsh brown 

 shining through, and a minute reticulation of lighter lines. 

 A brown band crosses the middle of the caudal, interrupted 

 bv a niesh-work of clear, transparent spaces. The whole 

 skin is thickly studded with little globular eminences, from 

 each of which, two divergent, minute, hair-like spines 

 stand out. These spinas are equally conspicuous on all 

 the fin membranes. 



The first dorsal ray is very slender, rises from a globular 

 base, and terminates in a single lanceolate membranous 

 tip. The third ray is closely bound down by the skin. 

 The profile is more arched than that of /lispidii.':, and most 

 of the species nearly allied to it. The thickness of the 

 shoulder is but little more than a fourth of its height. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length from upper lip to tip of caudal fin 1-55 inches. 



Height at the ventrals 070 „ 



Greatest thickness 018 „ 



Length of the caudal fin 040 ,. 



Cheironectes POLIT0S. Richardsoii. 



Cheironectes potiUts. Richardson, Zool. Trans., vol. iii., part 2, p. 1.33. 



Plate IX., fig. 2, natural size. 



This species belongs to the little group of Cheironectes 

 which have the second and third dorsal rays united by 

 membrane, to form an anterior fin, and more elongated 

 bodies than the other members of the genus. Two exam- 

 ples of the same group are made known in the Histoire 

 des Puissons ; one having a rough .skin, the other so much 

 more smooth that it has received the name of l(Bri.s, yet 

 it is said to be furnished with scabrous points, similar to 

 those of hirsutus in structure, thongh a little less rude to 

 the touch. The subject of the present notice is perfectly 

 smooth and soft, and a powerful eye-glass reveals no ine- 

 qualities in the skin. It is without skinny appendages, 

 at least in the state in which we have received it. The 

 gill-opening, with a tubular lip, is situated behind, and 

 a little above the level of the pectoral arm. The work 

 above referred to contains a description of the fish, but it 

 requires the following slight corrections in the account of 

 the fins, as I have ascertained by minute examination and 

 dissection. 



Ravs:— D. 11 



17; A. 9 ; C. 9; P. 9 ; V. l|4. 



The two anterior rays of the second dorsal are graduated, 

 and enclosed in the membrane, so as to look like one ray, 

 until dissected. They are a little shorter than the third, 

 which is the tallest of all. The fin lowers in the middle 

 by a slight curve, rising again near the end, which is 

 rounded off. All the rays are single, tapering, and strongly 

 jointed. The same is the case in the anal, whose first two 

 rays are also enclosed in the same membranous sheath. 

 The figure erroneously shows five rays in the ventrals. 

 There are but foin-, and an extremely short spine, which is 

 discovered with difficulty. 



H.\B. The northern coasts of Van Diemen's Land, Port 

 Arthur. 



Batrachus dubius. White } 



Ch. spec. B. nigra, fuscoque variiis, piiinis nigrescenli- 

 bus, fiisco-striatis ; denlihus subiilato-conicis nnise- 

 rialibns, in npice tantum ma.villcB inferioris diiplicalis ; 

 Jilamentis tribus superciliaribus. 



Radii:— Br. 6; D. 3)— 19; A. 18; C. 13; P. 22; V. 1|2. 



Plate X., figs. 1, 2, natural size. 



In the appendix to his ' Journal of a Voyage to New 

 South Wales,' by John White, Esq., published in 1790, 

 the author notices, very briefly, a fish about six inches long, 

 under the title of Lop/iius dubius : nigricans subtiis pal- 

 lidus. He says nothing more of it than that the " general 

 colour is a very deep brown, almost black ; the mouth is 

 extremely wide, and furnished with several rows of very 

 sharp teeth. Many ova were found on opening it, which 

 were very large in proportion to the fish." The figure 

 which accompanies this notice is execrable, and almost 

 nseless as a means of determining the species. The 

 teeth of the lower jaw are represented as brush-like, or 

 villiform, and we find that, in the Histoire des Poissous, 

 White's fish is referred to the Batrachus Dussumieri, 

 which has villiform teeth. All the specimens, however, of 

 Batrachus, which we have seen from the port of Sidney, 

 where White procured his, belong to a species having the 

 teeth and general form of B. grunniens, with colours ap- 

 proaching those of -B. Dussumieri ; and it seems, therefore, 

 fair to conclude, until another species be detected in the 

 same quarter, that this is the fish figured by White, and 

 we have, therefore, given an exact figure, under his specific 

 name. 



The Batrachus dubius appears to have a wider and thicker 

 body at the pectorals than grunniens, and a shorter head, 

 with a larger eye. The teeth are in single rows on the 

 jaws and roof of the mouth, except at the symphysis of 

 the lower jaw, where they are doubled, bj- the addition of 

 an outer row of four or five on each limb. Their form is 

 between conical and subulate, much shorter, and more 

 slender on the intermaxillaries,* which reach little more 

 than half way to the corner of the mouth. The lateral 

 ones on the lower jaw are stouter and blunter, and those 

 on the arch of the vomer and palatine bones still more so. 

 Tw'o narrow villiform bands, rather distant from each other, 

 cross the upper pharyngeal bones on each side. A single 

 broader band is opposed to those beneath, on each side. 

 The lips at the roots of the jaw-teeth, without and within, 

 are crenated by minute, soft, black eminences. The fila- 

 ments on the head appear to be more ninnerous than in 

 grunniens, but from the extreme laxity of the skin some 

 address is required in ascertaining their true number and 

 form. Mr. Mitchell has exhibited them in the figure very 

 acciu'atel}'. There are open pores beneath the eye, two or 

 three above the orbit, a cluster at the articulation of the 

 lower jaw, and a row along the disk of the preoperculum. 

 There is no hole in the cheek, behind the corner of the 

 mouth, as in grunniens. The mouth does not open farther 



* In grunniins the iutermaxillarj teeth are Tillifonn. — Histoire da 

 Poissons. 



