17 



being a line of porous integument, except at the crenated 

 posterior bonj' tip. A scaleless temporal furrow runs from 

 the eye to the upper angle of the gill-opening. Supra-ax- 

 illarj- plate of the coracoid bone bicuspidate. Lateral line 

 arched, and traced on about fifty scales, exclusive of small 

 ones on the base of the caudal, the line being continued 

 past the middle of the fin ; and there are about fifteen or 

 sixteen scales in the height of the body, seven of them be- 

 ing above the lateral line. 



Pectorals small. Ventrals attached rather behind the 

 pectoral axilla, and beneath the first dorsal spine. Third 

 dorsal spine rather the tallest, but scarcelj^ exceeding the 

 fourth. The eighth spine nearly equals the seventh, but is 

 only about one-third of the length of the longest spine, or 

 of the soft rays.* Anal more rounded than the soft dorsal, 

 and embraced like it at the base by a scaly sheath. The 

 anal spines are short and rather stout, the second being 

 the thickest, and nearly as long as the third. Caudal 

 much rounded. A tapering row of scales is applied to the 

 front of each dorsal spine on alternate sides of the mem- 

 brane. The rest of the fin-membranes are covered with 

 appressed, tender, tiled scales. A tapering, tiled, com- 

 pound scale flanks the outside of each pectoral, and there 

 is a broader, loose, scaly -pointed plate between these fins. 



Length of the specimen 9 inches ; of the head 2"4 inches. 

 Height of the body 2'38 inches. Diameters of the orbit 

 5'8 and 4"5 inches. Width between the eyes 0'4 inch. 



Figure 1, Plate LVIL, is a view of a dried section of the 

 fish preserved in the British Museum. Figure 2 is a scale 

 from the middle of the lateral line. 



Hab. Australia. 



Plectropoma dentex. Cuv. et Val. 

 Radii:— B. 7; D. 10|18; A. 318; C. 17 ; P. 15; V. 1|5. 



Plectropoma dentex, C. et V. ii. p. 394 ; Quoy. et Gaim. Voy de 

 I'Astrol. p. 660, PI. 4, f. 2 ; Neills Australian Fish, MSS. Br. Mus., 

 No. 23, PI. 23. Specimen iu British Museum numbered 46, I, 31, 71. 



without an angle. Its disk narrow, its upper limb minutely 

 toothed ; lower one irregularly crenated, with the anterior 

 toothlet near the articulation of the lower jaw turned for- 

 wards. Three flat opercular s])ines, the middle one farther 

 back and larger. Second anal spine stouter, and as long 

 as the third one. 



One strong and long canine tooth is implanted into each 

 intermaxillary not far from the symphysis (vide fig. 4), and 

 on the limb of the bone there is an exterior row of short 

 subulate teeth, with a narrow irregular baud of minute vil- 

 liform teeth at their bases within. The dental band at the 

 symphysis is broader and coarse, resembling the dentition 

 of a Sen-anus. Five tall and very strong canine teeth arm 

 each I'imb of the lower jaw, the anterior tooth and the two 

 posterior ones being larger than the intermediate ones. 

 The villiform teeth occupy less space at the symphysis 

 than in the upper jaw, and on the sides of the bone they 

 are reduced almost to a single series, but behind the last 

 canine they again increase to two or three rows. Chevron 

 of the vomer acute. The villiform teeth which arm it, 

 and the very narrow bands on the palatine bones, are 

 finer than those on the jaws. 



The original colours cannot be described from the dried 

 specimen, but the forms of the markings seem to be very 

 perfectly preserved. Along the back there remains a double 

 row of dark or blackish cloud-like spots, mixed with oval 

 and roundish white ones, which exist also on the sides and 

 belly, and are there larger. There are also on the back 

 and upper half of the sides three or four rows of narrow 

 longish spots, which have still a bluish colour. The 

 spinous dorsal and scaly base of the soil part of the fin are 

 marked like the back. On the head the three kinds of 

 markings also exist, but the spots are smaller much more 

 crowded, and the black spots extend to both jaws and the 

 whole side of the head. A few black spots exist on the 

 basal half of the pectoral and base of the caudal. The ar- 

 ticulated portions of the vertical fins are rather broadly 

 bordered with black, the anal, especially one half of it, 

 being of that tint. The tip of the ventral is also black. 



Length of fish 17'25 inches. Length of head 4-8 inches. 



Hab. King George's Sound. 



Plate LVIL, figs. 3—5. 



Centropristes georgianus. Cuv. et Val. 



This fish is stated by Assistant-Commissary-General 

 Neill to be good eating, but not a common species in 

 Western Australia. It is caught with a hook, and if the 

 fisherman be not on his guard it is apt to use its remarka- 

 bly strong canine teeth very effectively, and to bite him 

 severely. It derives its native name, 'Taang' or ' Taa,' 

 from these teeth, but the sealers name it ' the perch.' 

 Though the species has been already figured, I have 

 thought it advisable to give another representation of it, 

 executed fi-om a dried specimen in a very good condition. 



Under jaw and maxillary minutely scaly. Preopercu- 

 lum curved in an arc rather greater than a third of a circle, 



* There is no recumbent spine in front of the dorsal. 



Centropristes georgianus, Cuv. et Val. vii. p. 451 

 Arripis georgianus, Jenyns, Zool. Beagle, p. 14. 



Radii:— B. 7; D. OjlO, interdum 14 ; A. 3|10, vel 11 ; 

 C. 17^; P. 15; V. 1|5. 



Plate LIV., figs. 3—6. 



Full descriptions of this fish are contained in the His- 

 toire des Poissons, and in the Rev. L. Jenyn's account of 

 the Ichthyology of the Voyage of the Beagle. Its resem- 

 blance to the C.salar, noticed above at p. 29, and described 

 in the third volume of the Zoological Transactions, and 



