65 



objected to the specific name of tnonopterygitis, as not be- 

 ing discriminative, but as this fault is common to very 

 man}' of the scientific appellations given to fish, the rule of 

 adhering to the earliest published name, if not preoccupied, 

 seems to be preferable to the introduction of the very nu- 

 merous changes which would result from an attempt to rec- 

 tify all objectionable names, and we have, therefore, ad- 

 hered to Forster's name of macitlatns, which was published 

 by Schneider simultaneously with the newer and even less 

 distinctive appellation invented by himself, especially as 

 Forster's differs little from that of maculosus bestowed on 

 the fish by Solander, its first describer. We have seen 

 several specimens, both from New Zealand and Van Die- 

 men's Land, and have figured one of them, because Lesson's 

 plate does not appear to us to be a satisfactory representa- 

 tion of the species. 



The top of the head is quite flat, from the occiput to the 

 end of the snout, and transversely as far as the temples 

 and outer edges of the orbits. A square membranous 

 space is bounded laterally by the rough borders of the 

 orbits, and behind by a cross ridge of bone connecting 

 these borders ; the fore edge of the membrane that crosses 

 the pedicles of the intermaxillaries is cut away in a shal- 

 low curve, and is the anterior boundary of the square 

 space. The intermaxillaries lie in the same plane with 

 the snout, and descend very slightly when protruded. 

 Cuvier describes the granulations of the cranial plates, as 

 being arranged in lines radiating from nine centres like so 

 many stars, viz., in two rows of four each, and a single 

 roundish occipital plate on the mesial line. It is not easy 

 to make out the nine centres here mentioned. The exact 

 forms of the plates are shown in fig. 2, and most of them 

 are roughened by minute points crowded without order. 

 The outermost posterior plates, however, and two middle 

 pairs, show some radiating lines. The borders of the orbits 

 are very slightly raised, and the granulations of the super- 

 ciliary plates show a tendency to run in lines. The preor- 

 bitar projects two acute points over the limb of the maxil- 

 lary ; and the three suborbitars which follow occupy but a 

 small part of the cheek, and are all irregularly gi-anulated. 

 The preoperculum is curved in the arc of a circle, is coarsely 

 granulated at its upper end, and covered elsewhere with 

 smooth integument, which is perforated by a double row of 

 pores. Vertical granular lines mark the operculum, with 

 a few coarser grains at its upper angle, but in the recent 

 fish these rough parts are mostly concealed by the integu- 

 ment. The supra-scapulars are densely granulated oblong 

 plates, which in conjunction with the mesial occipital plate 

 form the boundary of the nape. The scapular (or humeral) 

 bone emits a strong spine over the upper angle of the gill- 

 opening ; it is slightly curved at the point, and half an 

 inch long in a fish which measures seven inches, though 

 the tips only protrude through the skin. Forster describes 

 it as ^^ spina valida horizontalis, apice extrorsum fiexd, 

 polUcaris" in a specimen which measured twenty-two 

 inches. The lips are closely fringed with very short slen- 

 der cirrhi, just visible to the naked eye, and there is a short 

 thick barbel on the chin, which seems to have escaped 

 Forster's notice, and is not indeed very readily discovered 

 unless it be looked for. A slender filament protrudes from 

 within the velum of the lower jaw. The dental plates are 



coarsely and thinly villiform at the symphyses and taper 

 away on the limbs of the jaws. The vomerine teeth are 

 minutely villiform, being scarcely visible to the naked eye, 

 and a cluster of three or four somewhat larger ones, crowded 

 together, exists on the fore part of each palate bone, these 

 bones being otherwise toothless. A row of pores runs 

 along the limb of tlie lower jaw to the preoperculum. The 

 eye is fringed by a narrow toothed membrane, which is not 

 easily seen unless the eyeball be protruded. The lateral 

 line curves gradually from the outer end of the suprasca- 

 pular towards the beginning of the dorsal, and then runs 

 near the base of that fin, approaching it gradually and 

 slightly in its course ; when it arrives at the base of the 

 caudal it bends suddenly downwards to pass between the 

 middle rays of the fin. Throughout its length short lateral 

 branches fringe it beneath, each ending in a muciferous 

 pore. The scales of the body are similar and of an oblong 

 shape. None exist above the lateral lines, nor on the 

 other parts mentioned as being naked in the ' Histoire des 

 Poissons.' All the rays of the dorsal are jointed, the spi- 

 nous fin being deficient, but in the dried specimen four ob- 

 tuse points press up the skin, like so many interspinous 

 bones before the first ray. 



The markings are represented in the figure as they exist 

 in a specimen which has been long macerated in spirits, 

 but the following is Solander's desciuption of a recent fish. 

 " Piscis superiie virescenti-griseus maculis rotundis dilute 

 et sordide Jlavicantibus ; subtus e virescente albus. Ca- 

 put supra cavernosum, pallide ejlavicante et griseo nebu- 

 losum. Oculi parvi. Iris griseo et albido inarmorata. 

 Pupilla nigra, superne et inferne lobulo griseo uotata. 

 Pinna dorsalis subglauca : vittd infra medium lata, al- 

 bidcl : radiis supra vittam fuscis, apicibus rubicundis. 

 PinncB pectorales extus olivacea;, maculis rotundis e vires- 

 cente albidis fulvo marmoratis, interne obscuriores ; basi 

 colore pectoris ; margines anteriores et posteriores albidce. 

 PinncB ventrales et anales colore pectoris. Pinna caudaiis 

 e rubicundo griscescens, fascia ante medium sub-inter- 

 ruptd, lata, sordide ex albido virescenti ; margo posticus 

 Tubescitr Forster merely says in regard to colour, " Cor- 

 pus supra pallide fuscum, maculis pallidioribus [in qui- 

 busdam albis seu arge7iteis), subtus candicanti argenteumP 

 " Pupilla nigra, iride aurea ; membrand nictilante in- 

 tegrd."* 



Forster's specimens measured twenty-two inches, and 

 are mostly about seven or eight inches long. 



Hab. Seas of New Zealand and Australia. (Also Ota- 

 heiti, Forster). 



Uranoscopds macropygus. Richardson. 



R.\Dii :— D. 30 ; A. 37; C. 8| ; P. 19 ; V. 1|5. 



Ch. Spec. U. capite laevi inermi ; ano sub axilla pinnce 

 pectoris magnm posilo ; pinnd ani longissimd ante pin- 

 nam dorsi unicam incipienti et ad pinnam caudte 



* This seems to have been an oversight, arising from the eye being 

 examined wlien retracted, for the eye-ball is surrounded by a denticulated 

 fringe. 



