123 



The general shape of the body, its rather prominent bell)-, 

 large head, obtuse snout, projecting conspicuously beyond 

 the lower jaw; and its slender jugular ventrals give it a 

 good deal the aspect of a codfish, whence its generic name. 

 The body tapers gradually towards the tail, whose height 

 between the three vertical fins is contained about twice 

 and one half in the height of the fish at the shoulders. 

 The head forms one quarter of the whole length, caudal fin 

 included : it is obtuse on the crown and rounded on the 

 sides, the height before the eyes scarcely exceeding its 

 width, but augmenting in proportion posteriorly, where the 

 compression increases. The profile rises from the obtuse 

 end of the snout, with a very gentle convexity to the com- 

 mencement of the dorsal ; and the curve of the opposing 

 ventral surface is similar to the upper profile. The eye, 

 placed laterally and near the profile, is of moderate size, 

 and a little nearer to the end of the snout than to the gill- 

 opening. The anterior nostrils, opening through short 

 tubes, are on the sides of the snout near its end ; the pos- 

 terior ones are plain openings near the eye. The gape of 

 the mouth reaches to the fore part of the eye. The preor- 

 bitar does not show, but the hinder edge of the maxillary 

 slips a short way under the fold of the scaly integument 

 which covers it. The maxillary is slender, and dilates gra- 

 dually towards its lower extremity, which is always ex- 

 posed, and lies on the lower jaw behind the corner of the 

 mouth. It is scaleless, like the lips and top of the snout 

 back to the posterior nostrils. The slender premaxilla- 

 ries, lengthened out by membrane, form the upper margin 

 of the mouth, and are not at all protractile at the symphy- 

 sis. The curved, unarmed preoperculum has a narrow 

 disk covered with scaly integument, like the cheek and 

 rest of the gill-cover. It is pierced by a row of conspicu- 

 ous pores, which are continued forwards along the limb of 

 the lower jaw. The triangular operculum ends in a flat, 

 acute point, which does not rise through the integument, 

 and is underlaid by the flexible tip and bordering mem- 

 brane of the suboperculum. The interoperculum and gill- 

 membrane are also scaly. Gill-opening large, the division 

 of the membranes extending forwards to beneath the eye. 

 The gill-membranes are supported by six rays. 



The scales are all small, cycloid and oval, those taken 

 from the body having generally about six furrows diverging 

 from the centre like the sticks of a fan, and producing five 

 crenatures or lobes on the margin. The scales extend to 

 the fins, and all parts of the head, except the lips, maxil- 

 lary and end of the snout. The lateral line runs near the 

 back, following its curvature. The dorsal fin, commencing 

 over the axilla of the pectoral, occupies most of the back, 

 and has an even, horizontal outline, the greater length of 

 the posterior rays compensating for the descending curve 

 of the back. It is supported anteriorly by ten slender, but 

 rigid and pungent spines, which are followed by simple, 

 flexible and jointed rays. In the posterior part of the fin 

 the soft rays split at their tips into two branches, which do 

 not however separate. The anal commences a little before 

 the middle of the fish by three slender spines, of which the 

 third one is the tallest, and equals the soft rays in height : 

 it ends a little before the end of the dorsal, leaving more of 

 the tail naked, and its posterior rays are not quite so high 



as the dorsal ones : neither of the fins liave their posterior 

 rays bound to the tail by membrane. The caudal is round, 

 and embraces the obtuse end of the tail by short rays 

 above and below. Pectoral rounded. The ventrals are 

 jugulai-, and are attached beneath the preoperculum and 

 well before the pectorals. Only a single jointed ray, with 

 a forked tip, can be detected on each, and no spine ; nei- 

 ther is there any spine in the pectoral. 



The teeth are in fine narrow, card-like plates, on the 

 premaxillaries, vomer, palatines and mandible, and are un- 

 equal in height: about six on each limb of each jaw, in 

 the exterior row, appear so much taller than the others 

 when examined through a lens, as almost to deserve the 

 appellation of canines. The few teeth on the chevron of 

 the vomer are taller than the crowded ones on the edge of 

 the palate bones. The pharyngeal bones and all the vis- 

 cera have been removed from the specimen. 



Length of fish nearly 4 inches. 



Hab. Rivers in the southern parts of Australia. 



The colour of the dried skin is pale brown, marked on 

 the dorsal and caudal fins, head, back and sides, with irre- 

 gular spots of liver-brown. The spots on the tail assume 

 somewhat of a banded arrangement. The anal is edged 

 with dark brown. 



Hemeroccetes acanthorhynchus. Forster. 

 {Callionymus). 



Callionymus acanthorhtjnchus, J. R. Forster, MSS. ii. 30, apud BI. 

 Scbn. p. 41. Idem, Descr. An. Licht. edit. p. 117. G. Forster, tig. 

 pict. 2, t. 175 in Bibl. Banks. 



C monopterygiiis, Bl. Schn. 1. c. 



Hemeroccetes acanthor/iipiclws, Cuv. et Val. xii. p. 311. Richardson, 

 App. to Dieffenbach's New Zeal. p. 212. 



Radii:— B. 7; D. 39 ad 41 ; A. 36, vel 37 ; C. 8| ; P. 21 ; 

 V. 1|5. 



Plate LIV., figs. 7—12. 



In the zoological appendix to the narrative of Dr. Dief- 

 fenbach's Travels in New Zealand, I described, at consi- 

 derable length, a specimen of this fish, brought by that 

 gentleman from Wangaroa Bay, in New Zealand. The 

 figure in Plate LIV. was drawn from an individual obtained 

 by Captain Sir Everard Home, Bart., in Cook's Straits; 

 and a few particulars of the splanchnology and osteology 

 are added from a third example, which was greatly de- 

 cayed. The following description is a revised copy of the 

 one mentioned above. 



Form elongated, the height not exceeding one- thirteenth 

 of the whole length : the width at the gill-covers, where it 

 is greatest, exceeds the height. The outline of the de- 

 pressed head slopes gradually to the end of the snout ; 

 the jaws when closed form the thin extremity of the head 

 when seen in profile (fig. 7). Viewed from above (fig. 8) the 

 head has a semi-lanceolate form : it is flatly convex, trans- 

 versely, and the same depressed rounded form extends 



i: 2 



