ceeds the height at the shouhler. The height between the 

 vent and base of the dorsal is one-tenth less than the 

 height at the shoulder. 



Hab. Sea of South Australia. Specimen in the British 

 Museum. 



PsETTUS AEGENTEUs. Linn. {C/icctodon). 



Chtrtndnn nrijenteus, Linn. Cbinens. Lagerstrffim. Anioen. Acad. 

 Dec. 17.') 1, iv. p. 4-2!>. ; Foist. Faun. Sin.; Bloch. Sclin. p. 230. Icon. 

 Keeves, J 10; Hanlw. Acanth. 226. Chinese name, Yin Win tsang, 

 " Silver scale Imni/,'' (Birch) ; Yen lin tsong, " Silver scaled tsang," 

 (Reeves). 



Radii:— B. 6; D. 8|29; A. 3|29; C. 17|; P. 17; V. 1|5. 

 (Spec. Hasl. Museum). 



Plate XXXV., figs. 1, 2, natural size ; 3, magnified. 



This fish was first described by Linnaeus as a Chcetodon, 

 and its true position in the genus Psettus is pointed out in 

 the ' Histoire des Poissons,' (vii. p. 2-31), where all that is 

 said of it in the ' Amcenitates Academica: ' is transcribed. 

 Its agreement in many characters \vith Psettus commer- 

 sonii is there shown, but the height of the body, it is justly 

 remarked, brings it nearer to Psettus rhonibeus. We are 

 inclined, however, to keep it separate on account of its pro- 

 portionally larger eye, taller and more obtuse dorsal and 

 anal fins, and from its wanting the black lines which de- 

 scend from the fore part of the dorsal to the face in rhom- 

 beus. We possess two specimens, which were taken at 

 Sidney, and which agree closely with Mr. Reeves's drawing, 

 though the latter is a representation of a larger individual. 



The height of the body is equal to the distance between 

 the fore part of the orbit and the end of the dorsal and anal 

 fins ; and is in proportion to the total length as 27 to 46. 

 The distance between the tips of the dorsal and anal rather 

 exceeds the total length when the fins are fully spread out ;* 

 and the thickness of the body is about a sixth of its height, 

 or less than a tenth of the height, fins included. The 

 scales are small, and cover the whole head and dorsal and 

 anal fins up to the tips of the rays. They are either very 

 deciduous on the caudal, or they only clothe its base. The 

 scales are delicate and feel smoothish to the finger, even 

 when drawn backwards, but under the microscope, the pos- 

 terior triangular portion of their disks is seen to be studded 

 with minute teeth. A magnified representation of a scale 

 from the lateral line is given in fig. 3. The caudal is 

 nearly even at the end when fully expanded, but seems 

 crescentic when suffered to collapse a little. The spines 

 of the dorsal are drawn in the figure as they appear when 

 elevated ; when lying flatly against the front of the fin the 

 anterior ones are scarcely perceptible, and the summits 

 both of the soft dorsal and anal appear more acute and 

 stand out more abruptly from the posterior rays when suf- 

 fered to fall back a little. The teeth are those of a Chato- 



* In the figure of Psettus rhombeus in the new edition of ' Kegne 

 Animal,' ii. pi. XLIT., fig. 2, the height between the tips of the dorsal 

 and anal fins does not exceed the length from the snout to the trunk of the 

 tail, and the eye is less, and further from the profile than in argenteus. 



don, and the eye is larger and nearer the profile than that 

 of Psettus sebcc or rhombeus. The orbit is only its own 

 diameter distant from the gill-opening, excluding the small 

 peak of the gill-cover. 



Mr. Reeves's drawing is eight inches long, and is colored 

 duck-green on the back, fading away at the lateral line into 

 the silvery and very slightly rosaceous scales. The verti- 

 cal fins are duck-green at the base, and pass into oil-green 

 and sulphur-yellow towai-ds the ends, the anterior summits 

 of the dorsal and anal being dark purplish brown, shaded 

 off in the latter by crimson. The upper parts of the head 

 and gill-cover are blackish green mixed with crimson ; and 

 the pectoral is straw-yellow, with an aurora-red tint at its 

 base. Iris silvery and brown. 



Hab. Seas of Australia and China. 



ScATOPHAGUS MULTIFASCIATUS. Richaxdson. 



Ch. Spec. Sc. fronte concavd ad nares gibbd ; dorsofas- 

 ciis plurimis, nigris, transversis notato ; lateribus ma- 

 culatis ; post singulas spinas pimi(B dorsi unique vitto 

 nigra. 



Radii ; 



-B. 6; D. 111-1116; A. 4|16; C. 15|; P. 17 ; 

 V. IjS. 



Plate XXXV., 



4, 5, natural size ; 6, magnified. 



The body is much compressed, with a short, oblate-oval 

 outline, beyond which the .snout and trunk of the tail pro- 

 ject. The summit of the back, which is occupied by the spi- 

 nous dorsal, and the opposite part of the belly, are bounded 

 by nearly horizontal lines. The soft dorsal and anal 

 occupy the whole of the posterior curves. The head foims 

 nearly one-fourth of the whole length, caudal included, and 

 the diameter of the orbit rather exceeds the fourth part of 

 the length of the head. The border of the orbit is obtusely 

 prominent at the upper anterior angle behind the nostril. 

 The preorbitar is considerably wider than the rest of the 

 suborbitar chain, and an obtuse notch is formed by their 

 junction. The upper limb of the preoperculum is vertical, 

 the corner shortly rounded, and the lower one completely 

 overlies the interoperculum, only a small crescentic part of 

 that bone showing behind the angle of the preoperculum. 

 The edge of the gill-cover is nearly an arc of a circle 

 without any notch, but the upper comer of the operculum 

 makes a scarcely visible prominence. It is rough with 

 microscopical teeth. 



The fine brush-like dental plates on the jaws are com- 

 posed of closely set slender teeth, each of which is tiicus- 

 pid, with the middle cusp taller than the lateral ones. 

 There are no teeth on the roof of the mouth. 



The scales are small and densely tiled, only a small ob- 

 lique rhomboidal segment of the disk being visible, which 

 is armed with several parallel acutely toothed ridges. 

 The base is undulated, producing three or four indistinct 

 lobes. The general form of the scales is semi-oval with 

 one side shorter. The lateral line runs in the upper 

 quarter of the height until it reaches the posterior third of 



