53 



Labrus celidotus. Forster. 

 Radii:— D. 9110; A. 3|10; C.l^■, P. 12; V. IjS. 



Labrus celidotus. Forster, apud Schneid. p. 265. Id. Dese. Anim. 

 curA Licht.x>. 133. 



Plate XXXI., fig. 1, 2, 3, 5, natural size., fig. 4 magnified. 



The form of this fish is pretty regular, the central and 

 dorsal curves differing but little from each other. The 

 slope from the upper lip to the dorsal is gradual, and simi- 

 lar to the posterior curve of the back, and the height of the 

 body, which is greatest under the fifth dorsal spine, is equal 

 to the length of the head, and is contained three times and 

 a half in the total length of the fish. Forster makes the 

 head one-sixth of the total length, but his measurement is 

 evidently made on the crown of the head, and not to the 

 tip of the gill-cover. The thickness of the body is inferior 

 to half its height. 



A small canine tooth stands forward at the angle of the 

 mouth, being implanted in the upper jaw ; and behind the 

 single visible row of teeth in both jaws there are much small- 

 er ones similar to them in form nearly hidden by the soft 

 parts. Other Lahri have also these interior teeth, and the 

 dorsal and anal fins are quite destitute of the scaly sheaths 

 of the Cosyphi, neither is there any enlargement of the 

 jaws. There are many pores on the preorbitar, the subor- 

 bitar bones, the preoperculura, temples, upper surface of 

 the cranium, and first row of nuchal scales. The cheeks 

 are covered by five or six rows of small scales, but on the 

 gill-cover the scales are as large as those of the body. The 

 lateral line is traced on twenty- eight scales, and descends 

 suddenly behind the dorsal and anal fins for the breadth of 

 a scale. Its muciferous canals on the anterior scales make 

 a single fork like the letter Y, but are more branched on the 

 posterior ones. Each scale is obscurely three-lobed at 

 the base, with numerous fan-like furrows, and there are 

 also some less regular diverging lines on the exposed part 

 of the disk. The spines of the dorsal and anal are rather 

 slender, and the caudal is even at the end. 



Forster describes the colours as follows : forehead and 

 back deep reddish brown, the sides green, and the belly 

 silvery white. Caudal fin and gill-covers greenish brown, 

 a roundish black spot an inch and a half in diameter, high 

 on the side opposite to the anus, and three obsolete brown- 

 ish black streaks towards the tail. The pectoral, ventral, 

 and anal fins are yellow ; the latter being marked by 

 two or three black spots, and the dorsal by more scattered 

 ones. Our specimens have lost their original tints by long 

 maceration in spirits, but the lateral spot is still con- 

 spicuous, though of a smaller size than it is described to 

 be by Forster. It is crossed by the lateral line. The disks 

 of the scales are much darker than their margins, especially 

 on the flanks ; there are two dark streaks on the temples, 

 a few spots on the anal, and the dorsal is clouded by ill-de- 

 fined spots. 



Obs. The Spams notatus of Solander (Mss. Pise. Austr. ; 

 Parkinson 37, Icon ined. Bibl. Banks ; Richardson, Ann. 

 and Mag. of Nat. Hist. xi. p. 425), has considerable re- 



semblance to this species in the distribution of its dark 

 tints, as well as in its external form, but the large, oval, 

 black spot is situated some distance below the lateral line. 

 The Labrus pcecilopleura of New Zealand, as far as we 

 can judge from the description of it in the ' Histoire des 

 Poissons,' (p. 13, 95), does not differ specifically from 

 Solander's notatus. These species, and several other Aus- 

 tralian Lahri, viz. L. tetricus, fucicola, laticlavius, and 

 psittaculus (Richardson, Zool. Trans.) ; and also the L. 

 ephippiuni and gayi of the ' Histoire des Poissons,' agree 

 with celidotus in the numbers of the dorsal and anal 

 spines, and differ widely in that character from the Eu- 

 ropean Lahri. 



Hab. Seas of New Zealand and Australia, Southern Is- 

 land of New Zealand, (Forster) ; Woosung, North of China, 

 (Sir Everard Home). 



Labrus botryocosmus. Richardson. 



Radii :— D. 9|11 ; A. 3|10 ; C. 12| ; P. 12 ; V. 1|5. 



Plate XXXI., figs. C, 7, 8, & 10. natural size ; 9 magnified. 



This Labrus is very much like the preceding one, the 

 most palpable difference being the existence of a cluster of 

 black dots above the lateral line and under the posterior 

 dorsal spines, with a longitudinal bar on the dorsal and 

 another on the anal, in place of the lateral s])ot and other 

 markings of celidotus. There is also a pale blue streak 

 running up the posterior border of the preorbitar and along 

 the suborbitar chain. The dentition does not differ from 

 that of celidotus, and there is a similar minute canine at the 

 angle of the mouth. On comparing the specimens closely 

 with one another, the following differences were detected in 

 form. The profile of the snout of botryocosmus is gibbous, 

 its snout is wider, and the curve formed by the junction of 

 the cranium with the scaly nape is more contracted than in 

 celidotus. The posterior limb of the preoperculum is 

 nearly erect, and meets the lower limb at a right angle, 

 while in celidotus the angle is much more open. The 

 scales of botryocosmus are in general more elongated, and 

 the tubes which mark out the lateral line are simply forked 

 in the tail, and move branched anteriorly, contrary to what 

 is observed in celidotus. 



Hab. Coasts of South Australia and Van Diemen's 

 Land. 



Macrourus, vel Lepidorhynchus denticolatus. 

 Richardson. 



Ch. Spec. M. squamis ovalibus rotundatisve nan carina- 

 tis postice spinuloso-hirtis ; radio pinnte dorsi antico 

 submutico ; piiitid dorsi secundd lonyius pone anum 

 incipienti. 



Radii: — D. 12—? A.—? P. 18. 



Plate XXXII., fig. 1. natural size ; 2, 3, magnified. 



About eight species of this genus are now known ; viz. 

 two which inhabit the Greenland seas, two belonging to 



