133 



curve on the free edge, and is oblique angled. The base 

 is marked by about thirty-three slightly-radiating striic, 

 many of them terminating short of the edge, and the sides 

 are bordered by some elevated lines, the greater part of the 

 disk being smooth, except the exposed part, which is co- 

 vered by integument that becomes somewhat granular in 

 drying. The scales of the back, and those on the base of 

 the caudal, are more oblong, with fewer radiating stria;, 

 more numerous lateral lines and a less smooth disk. The 

 scales composing the lateral line show much smaller disks 

 in situ than those above and below them, and a raised tube 

 on each scale ends in a bushy cluster, the branches of 

 which are not very distinct in the dried specimen. The 

 line is very slightly arched anteriorly, and becomes quite 

 straight in the trunk of the tail. 



The spinous part of the dorsal is moderately arched, 

 and is lower than the articulated portion, which ends in a 

 point formed by the penultimate and two preceding rays, 

 the eighth soft ray being the longest. The spines are of 

 a very unusual form, being very strong, but compressed, 

 like the blade of a knife with a blunt or rounded point, the 

 last three, however, being more cylindrical and acute. 

 The membrane is deeply notched behind each spine. The 

 soft part of the anal corresponds with the dorsal, bat the 

 spines are even broader and more obtuse than the dorsal 

 ones. It would appear from Mr. NeilFs observations, that 

 some individuals have only one, others but two anal 

 spines. A few small scales exist on the bases of the jointed 

 portions of the anal and dorsal ; and these fins seem to 

 move in a low furrow, not nearly so much developed as 

 the usual scaly sheaths of the Cossyphi. The ventral is 

 pointed ; and its greatly compressed, wide, blunt spine, is 

 only half as long as the second and third jointed rays, 

 which form the point of the fin. The pectoral is ranch 

 rounded, and the anal is even with the angles rounded. 

 Mr. Gould reports the colour as an uniform dark olive tint, 

 and Mr. Neill's drawing is coloured with a dark neutral 

 tint, approaching to grayish or purplish-black along the 

 dorsal aspect and on the fins, and fading to blackish-gray 

 on the sides. 



Length .38^ inches. 



Hab. Western Australia. 



Odax lineatds. Quoy et Gaimard. {Malacanthus). 



Malacanthe rayi, Quoy et Gaimard, Zool. de rAstrul. p. 717, PI. 19, 

 f.2. 



Cheilio lineatus, Cuv. et Val. xiii. p. 354. 



Radii:— B. 5; D. 20|10; A. 4|9; C. 25; P. 12; V. 1|5. 



Plate LX., figs. 1—5. 



This fish has hitherto been known to ichthyologists only 

 by the figure published by Quoy and Gaimard, the speci- 

 men having been lost after the drawing was made by M. 

 Gressien, an officer of the Astrolabe, who presented it to 

 M. Quoy. It is probable, from the terms in which this is 



mentioned by M. Quoy, that he never saw the fish, but 

 described it from the drawing, which would account for 

 the errors in the account of the jaws, dentition, gill-cover, 

 &c., and his not discriminating the simple from the jointed 

 rays of the dorsal and anal. A very perfect and beautifully 

 coloured drawing of the species, now in the possession of 

 Robert Brown, Esq., had been made long before, on Flin- 

 ders' voyage, by Mr. Bauer ; and a specimen in tolerable 

 preservation, from which our figure was taken, enables us 

 to give the following description. 



This fish is moderately compressed, with a fusiform pro- 

 file, the tail becoming gradually higher at the base of the 

 widely elliptical and acute caudal. The height, which is 

 greatest under the middle of the dorsal, is about equal to 

 one-seventh of the whole length of the fish, and the nar- 

 rowest part of the tail is equal to half that height. The 

 length of the head, including the tip of the gill-cover, forms 

 less than one-third of the total length, caudal included. 

 The eye is equidistant from the extremity of the upper jaw 

 and ti]) of the gill-cover, and is near the upper profile, but 

 does not actually touch it : its diameter is about one-fifth 

 of the length of the head, and equals exactly the distance 

 between the orbits. The thickness at the nape is one 

 quarter less than the height there. 



The posterior nostril, which is close to the eye, is a 

 small open orifice ; the anterior one can be closed by a 

 valvular lip. The scales on the top of the head are not 

 much smaller than those of the body, and are separated 

 from the nape and supra-scapular scales by a smooth 

 transverse line, which is bent at each temple to run back- 

 wards to the upper angle of the gill-opening. The mar- 

 gins of the orbits are smooth, but the scales come forward 

 between them to the posterior nasal-opening. The oper- 

 culum, most of the suboperculum and the cheek are scaly 

 (fig. 2), and there is also a row of scales on ihe iuteroper- 

 culum ; but the snout, jaws and disk of the preoperculuni 

 are more or less porous. The thin and flexible interoper- 

 culum is quite entire, but when held up to the light it ap- 

 pears striated on its edge. The border of the suboper- 

 culum is smooth, and its cartilaginous strap-shaped tip 

 projects over the axilla of the pectoral. This process is 

 fissile, and splits into sixteen or eighteen pointed teeth. 

 The operculum is, as is common in the Labri, connected 

 by its upper edge to the shoulder, but the gill-opening ex- 

 tends well forwards below. 



The mouth is cleft horizontally as far back as the 

 anterior nostril. The preorbitar, of a semi-lanceolate 

 form, covers a space into which the side of the jaw glides, 

 but there is no preorbitar lip, the integuments of the snout 

 being continuous with the well-developed premaxillary 

 lips. These and the lower lip fold back over their respective 

 jaws, even at the symphyses. The jaws have the usual 

 narrow spoon-shaped form peculiar to Oda.v, with the 

 quincuncial incorporated teeth shining through. The thin 

 edges of the jaws are irregularly and minutely crenated ; a 

 few of the projections, particularly four or five on the up- 

 per jaw, at the angle of the mouth, appearing like minute 

 teeth. There are also five small, conical, acute teeth, 

 springing from the outside of the upper jaw posteriorly 

 (figs. 2, 3). The upper pharyngeals are small, but thick, 

 triangular, five-sided bones, one of the sides only attached 



