132 



scales the branches are rather fewer and spread less 

 (fig. 7). 



The dorsal spines are slender, subulate and acute, and 

 increase gradually in height to the last or thirteenth, which 

 is nearly twice as tall as the first : a small point of mem- 

 brane overtops each of them. The soft rays rise above the 

 last spine nearly in the same degree that it exceeds the 

 first one. The anal is similar to the posterior part of the 

 dorsal, and ends a little nearer to the caudal. The latter 

 is truncated at the end, with a slight acute projection of 

 the upper corner. The pectoral is rather large and trian- 

 gular, the ventrals comparatively small and pointed. There 

 are no small scales on the fins. 



The specimen here described, and figured in Plate LV., 

 is a dried one, and measures 8j inches. Another, mea- 

 suring I2j inches, was taken at Port Essington, and has the 

 dorsal and anal more pointed.* One example in the Haslar 

 Museum, presented by John Gould, Esq., is twenty-two 

 inches long, and differs from the preceding in its teeth and 

 jaws not being green, and in having a stout canine directed 

 outwards from the angle of the mouth. The upper limb 

 of its preopercuhim is finely and acutely serrated, the ser- 

 ratures pointing upwards. This is most probably a dis- 

 tinct species, and the British Museum possesses a large 

 mounted specimen of it which was also obtained from 

 Mr. Gould. 



Hab. Northern coasts of Australia. 



CossYPHUs, vel Lachnolaimds gouldii. Richardson. 



Lahrus gouldii, Richardson, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. xi. p. 353. 



Radii:— D. lljlO; A. 3|10; C. 14|; P. 17; V. I|5. 



In the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, as 

 above quoted, I described a Western Australian fish, which 

 in its dentition makes a near approach to L. cijfuiodus. I 

 stated there that the specimen consisted of the dried skin 

 of one side of the fish, with the bones of the head 

 cut away, so that the pro])er form of the profile could 

 not be ascertained ; but since that was written I have re- 



* In the specimen which is figured the colours were effaced. The 

 one described in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History (ix. 355) 

 retained some indications of the darker tints, viz., " The top and sides 

 of the head have a dark brownish hue, which is separated from the in- 

 ferior orange or reddish-yellow parts by an even line running beneath 

 the pectoral fin and preopercuhim to the angle of the mouth. There is 

 a purplish-brown patch on the chin. The light tints of the under sur- 

 face rise in the axilla of the pectoral to the middle of the side, and are 

 continued at that height to the caudal. The upper parts have a leaden 

 hue, not very unif(mn. Three dark bars descend from the spinous part 

 of the dorsal to the lateral line, there is a fourth before the fin, and a 

 fifth is more obscurely seen at the end of the soft part of the fin, all 

 these bars being broader than the intermediate paler spaces. There are 

 no markings on the dorsal, though the colour of the spinous part is 

 somewhat deeper than that of the soft part. Two diaphanous lines tra- 

 verse the middle of the anal, and five similar ones cross the caudal, fol- 

 lowed by dots on the end of the fin.'' The length of this specimen was 

 10 inches. 



cognized the species among D. A. C. G. Neill's drawings 

 of the fish of King George's Sound. It bears among the 

 natives the various names of " koojemick," " quejiumuck" 

 or " know]," and grows to a large size. Mr. Neill men- 

 tions one weighing 28 tt>s., which was speared by a native, 

 but not killed till after a long struggle, the fish being very 

 powerful. 



In the drawing the profile from the snout to the nape is 

 a low arc, but in the specimen it forms about the sixth of 

 a circle. The head is short, the belly more arched than 

 the back, and the trunk of the tail thick, the fish being 

 clumsily made. The preorbitar lip is simple, the premax- 

 illary one thick and plaited. Each premaxillary and limb 

 of the mandible is armed in front with two stout, conical, 

 bluntish teeth, whose roots are incorporated with the 

 bone, all of them having a narrower stem or neck, which 

 is evidently covered by the soft parts in the recent 

 fish. The tooth next the symphysis above and below 

 points obliquely forwards ; the other one outwards and 

 downwards or upwards, as it is above or below. The sur- 

 faces of both jaws are smooth and naked, and the bone 

 swells out slightly behind the canines, but forms a flattish 

 ridge on the lateral parts of the jaw. On the intermaxil- 

 lary there is a small blunt tooth, no bigger than a pin's 

 head, immediately behind the front canine, and many still 

 more minute rounded teeth appear as if ready to burst 

 from the bone all over its surface, but are scarcely promi- 

 nent enough to render it uneven : the outer edge of the 

 ridge is a little uneven, but only two minute angles can 

 be considered as teeth. There is no canine at the corner 

 of the mouth. On the mandible there are two small gra- 

 nular teeth at the symphysis behind the front canine ; 

 minute rounded teeth incorporated with the bone all 

 over its surface, and merely shining through ; and also an 

 exterior range of nine or ten small conical or rounded 

 teeth : of these the middle ones are the most prominent, 

 and are the only ones that rise above the edge of the 

 grinding ridge. The snout, mandible, top of the head to 

 the occiput, preorbitar, a considerable space bordering the 

 eye beneath, broad disk of the preopercuhim, and lines 

 surrounding the supra-scapular and temporal clusters of 

 scales, are naked. The preoperculum has its free edge 

 augmented by an even membranous border, without any 

 visible serratures. The cheek is furnished with small, ver- 

 tically oval, remote, impressed scales, which form seven or 

 eight rows in the curve of the preopercular disk, but di- 

 minish to two towards the temples, where the scales are 

 larger. The operculum is covered by five rows of scales, 

 which increase rapidly in size towards the edge of the gill- 

 flap. One row of larger scales conceals the suboper- 

 cuhun ; and five rows of smaller ones, though not so small 

 as those on the cheek, cover the interoperculum, the lower 

 edge of this bone being smooth. The scales of the body 

 are large, there being only forty on the lateral line, and 

 six rows above it. The scales of the nape and breast, and 

 those covering the supra-scapulars, are smaller : the 

 largest are on the flanks ; and one taken from that part of 

 the individual mentioned by Mr. Neill as having weighed 

 28 tbs., measures 1'3 inch in length and Tl in width. It 

 is boimded by three nearly straight sides and an elliptical 



