121 



SCOKPIS GEORGIANUS. Ciiv. et Val. 



Scorpis geoi-jjianus, Cuv. et Val. viii. p. 503, PI. 245. 



Radii:— "B. 7;D. 10|23; A. 3|-25 ; C. 17; P. 15; V. 1|5." 

 — Histoiie des Poissoiis. 



This fish is represented in Mr. Neill's drawings (No. 6), 

 and is stated by him to be a very common inhabitant of 

 rocky shores, and to take the hook readily. He says that 

 it is a gross feeder, but is an agreeable article of food. It 

 is the " striped sweep " of the sealers, the " pomfret " of 

 the settlers of King George's Sound, and the " mudeur" of 

 the Aborigines, who also name it " teutuck " or " karloch," 

 from the shape of the fins. The drawing measures 12j 

 inches in length, and the body is 7j inches high. The 

 colour is blackish-brown, deepening to brownish-black on 

 the snout, back, edges of the dorsal and anal, and on the 

 whole of the other fins. There is a dai'k bar on the gill- 

 cover and temples, another broad one descends from the 

 whole length of the spinous dorsal to the belly, and two 

 from the soit part of the dorsal. The lips, lower jaw and 

 ej'e are yellowish. 



I have seen no example of this species. 



Hab. King George's Sound, Australia. 



ScoKris ^QUiPiNNis. Richardson. 



" The Sweep," Neill's drawings of the Fish of King George's Sound 

 (inMus. Brit.), No. 43. 



Radii:— D. 10|27; A. 3|26 ; C. 17| ; P. 19; V. 1|5. 



The premaxillary teeth are short, and disposed in dense 

 villiforni bands, the outer row being a little stronger and 

 longer than the others, but apparently not so much so as 

 in (jeorgicmiis. The villiform bands cease about midway to 

 the angle of the mouth, and the exterior row, gradually di- 

 minishing in the size of its teeth, disappears a little farther 

 on. The mandibular teeth are similar, but reach to the 

 corner of the mouth, the interior band thinning off to a 

 point. The chevron of the vomer and edges of the palatine 

 bones are armed with rather stronger villiform teeth. The 

 teeth on the pterygoid bones are scarcely to be detected, 

 even in the younger specimens, with a good lens. The 

 preoperculum is finely and acutely toothed along its lower 

 limb and round the angle, the teeth being visible to the 

 naked eye, but on the edge of the lirab there is merely a 

 slight irregularity. The operculum is elliptically notched on 

 its edge, without pungent angles. The cheek, suborbitar 

 chain, disk of the preoperculum, rest of the opercular 

 pieces, lower jaw, gill-cover, throat, and most of the head, 

 are scaly ; the lips, membranous parts about the mouth 

 and nostrils, and the maxillary, being smooth. The 

 spinous parts of the dorsal and anal have scaly sheaths at 

 their bases; the rest of the vertical fins are covered with 

 minute scales. The scales of the body seem to have a 

 more convex free edge than those oi georgianus : they are 

 strongly toothed on the edge, and most of them have three 

 or four raised lines near to the free edge and parallel to it. 



The drawing is coloured neutral tint, fading to pale blue 

 or bluish-gray on the lower parts, and deepening on the 

 caudal, dorsal and edge of the anal almost to black. The 

 top of the head and back are also blackish, and the mem- 

 branes of the pectorals and ventrals. The lips and eye are 

 yellow. 



Length of the specimens from 4 to 10 inches ; of Mr. 

 Neill's drawing I65- inches. 



Hab. King George's Sound, Australia. 



This fish is the " sweep " of the Sealers, the "memon" 

 or " meemon" of the Aborigines of King George's Sound. 

 It is ver}' common on the rocky shores, and is stated by 

 Mr. Neill to be a bold voracious fish, easily speared or 

 taken by the hook. " The method employed by the na- 

 tives for spearing the fish is extremely simple. They gene- 

 rally select a rock jutting far out into the sea, and sitting 

 there on their haras, with a little stone before them, beat 

 crabs to fragments and throw them into the water ; then 

 the fish, coming to seize upon the bait, is transfixed by 

 the spear, which the native holds ready and poised in his 

 hand. He rarely throws it without securing a prey on its 

 barbed point." (Neill /. c.) This species is but a poor 

 article of food. 



This is a more oblong fish than S. georgianus, and the 

 summits of its dorsal and anal are not falcate, or very 

 slightly so, even in the largest individuals. The height of 

 the body is contained nearly thrice in the total length, in- 

 stead of only twice and a half as in georgianus. The 

 length of the head is contained five times and a quarter in 

 the whole length, and the diameter of the eye thrice and a 

 half in the length of the head. 



Argentina retropinna. Richardson. 



Radii:— B. 6; D. 11; A. 20; P. 11 ; V. 6. 

 Plate LIT., figs. 1—3. 



Form fusiform and compressed, so that the height, which 

 is one-seventh of the length, is nearly twice the thickness. 

 The sides are flattish, the back obtuse, and the belly also 

 rounded, but with a low, acute, mesial cutaneous seam, 

 which runs from the pectorals to the anal, and is most visi- 

 ble posterior to the ventrals. The profile ascends in an 

 arc to the occiput, and from thence to the dorsal, which is 

 far back, it is horizontal, with a slight convexity. The 

 under profile nearly corresponds with the upper one, except 

 that when the fish is full of roe, as in the specimen which 

 is figured, the belly is rather more convex. The length 

 of the head is one-fifth of the whole length of the fish. 

 The scales are very delicate, of an obtusely oval form, the 



