126 



Labrus teteicus, vel Tautoga tetrica. Richardson. 



Labnis tetricus, Richardson, Zool. Trans, iii. p. 136. 



Radii:— B. 6; D. 9|11 ; A. 3ll0; C. 14 ; P. 13 ; V \\o. 



Plate LV., figs. 1—4. 



In the Zoological Transactions, as above quoted, I 

 described this species and three other Lahri forming part 

 of a collection of fish made at Port Arthur, Van Diemen's 

 Land, by Assistant-Commissary-General Lempriere. Of 

 these four fi.sh I there remarked, that " they are all true 

 Ijubri, and bear a general resemblance to the L. bergylta 

 of the Hifstoire des Poissoiis, but the scales which clothe 

 their opercula, though in fact much larger than in that 

 species, being imbedded in a mucous skin, are scarcely 

 discernible in the recent specimen. The opercular scales 

 overlie the junction of the suboperculum, as in many Eu- 

 ropean species, leaving however the greater part of the 

 latter bone naked. There are no scales whatever on the 

 interoperculum, in which respect these wrasses differ from 

 L. bergylta, mixtim, irimaculat;ts and titrdus. The scales 

 of the cheek are small, and as their distribution varies they 

 furnish us with a ready means of distinguishing the species 

 from each other. In all the four, the teeth are longer and 

 stronger at the symphyses of the jaws than in L. bergylta 

 or niLvtus ; and the posterior ones being small, their dimi- 

 nution is more rapid, as in the genus Julis. They resem- 

 ble Tautoga in possessing a pretty regular interior row of 

 minute teeth. All have a canine tooth at the angle of the 

 mouth directed forwards. The preorbitar lips are not 

 greatly developed, and do not conceal the swelling plaited 

 ones of the upper jaw. The lower lip folds back in a 

 rounded plait on each limb of the jaw. The maxillaries 

 lie under the preorbitars, their lower ends coming out when 

 the mouth is open. In the number of their fin rays they 

 agree nearly with L. pmcilopleura of New Zealand, and 

 their dorsal fins have more soft rays than spines, in which 

 respect they differ from the European wrasses." 



Labrus tetricus has a short and rather bluflfhead, which 

 is only one-fourth of the total length, caudal included. 

 The height of the occiput equals the length of the head, 

 and that of the tail between the three vertical fins is nearly 

 one half of the height of the body at the pectorals. The 

 greatest height of the body is contained thrice and four- 

 fifths in the whole length, or less than four times. The 

 head is clothed with a porous skin, which conceals the 

 bones and scales in the recent fish ; but as the integu- 

 ments dry, the cranium, preorbitar, margin of the orbit and 

 preopercular disk, become prominent, rough and irregular. 

 Four vertical rows of large thin scales, about half the size 

 of the scales of the body, cover the operculum and two- 

 thirds of the suboperculum : the large interoperculum, 

 which is rendered wider by a membranous edge, and the 

 broad disk of the preo])ercuIum, which has also a thin 

 membranous free border, are naked ; with the exception 

 of three rows of very small deeply-imbedded scales, which 



descend from the temples, close to the inner edge of the 

 preopercular disk, as far as its curve : the large cheek is 

 also scaleless, but very porous. The preorbitar, with its 

 membranous border or lip, is but little inferior in width to 

 the space between the orbit and upper angle of the gill- 

 opening. The preorbitar lips have a free edge at their 

 union over the premaxillary pedicles. The premaxil- 

 lary lips are thick, and plaited into seven or eight shallow 

 folds, the inner fold being studded with minute wart-like 

 papillae. 



There are eleven teeth on each premaxillary bone, ex- 

 clusive of a stout canine tooth standing forwards from the 

 angle of the mouth, and implanted into the tip of the same 

 bone. The mandibular teeth are also eleven in each 

 limb ; and on both jaws there is a single series of minute 

 interior teeth, which are visible enough in the dried spe- 

 cimen, but can scarcely be detected in the recent one. 

 Interior teeth of the same description exist in many of the 

 European Labri, but they are seldom disposed in such 

 regular rows ; and as this inner dental series is one of the 

 principal characters of Tautoga, the Australian Labroids 

 here described ought perhaps to be referred to that genus. 

 It is to be observed, however, that the species we shall 

 have to notice have the gill-covers more extensively scaly 

 than the Tautogw of the Histoire des Poissons, and differ 

 from the European Labri chiefly in the interoperculum 

 being naked. The teeth of tetricus are disposed in 

 straight lines, so that when the open mouth is viewed in 

 front they form a rectilinear rhomb, differing in this 

 respect from L. fucicola, in which the lines of teeth are 

 convex. There are about thirty-six lower pharyngeal 

 teeth, six composing the anterior group, being conical- 

 subulate ; the rest are smooth and rounded grinders, of 

 which the biggest is the posterior mesial one. There are 

 about twenty-two on each upper pharyngeal bone, the exte- 

 rior ones being more conical and less worn than the interior 

 ones. The scales covering the body are large and thin, 

 with membranous edges. There are twenty-six rows be- 

 tween the gill-opening and caudal, besides three rows more 

 crowded on the bases of the caudal rays, and a fillet of 

 small scales running a short way on the membrane between 

 the rays. The lateral line makes an abrupt downward 

 descent, a little beyond the dorsal and anal, tor the entire 

 breadth of a scale, and then i-esumes its straight course 

 through the centre of the tail. It is marked on each scale 

 by a slender undulating tube, which suddenly branches by 

 three or four successive bifurcations in an arbuscular man- 

 ner. The number of bi-anchlets' diminishes on the poste- 

 rior scales. The fine fan-like streaks on the scales are 

 about thirty in number. 



The ventral fins are pointed. The eleventh dorsal spine 

 exceeds the first in length by nearly one-third, the others 

 being of intermediate height : they are all overtopped by 

 little strips of membrane. The soft portion of the fin has 

 a slightly-arched outline, somewhat higher than the spines ; 

 and the anal, similar in form, has shorter spines. The 

 spines of both fins are slender, subulate and acute. The 

 caudal is even at the end, or, when fully spread out, a lit- 

 tle rounded. 



When the specimen was taken from the spirits, the soft 



