130 



not actually touch it. From the anterior third of the orbit 

 the ridge is less prominent, and more obtuse forward to the 

 nostrils (fig. 3). The teeth arc small, and just visible to 

 the naked eye: viewed through a lens they do not appear 

 acute, and are seen to form one row on the upper jaw, and 

 two irregular crowded rows on the fore part of the mandi- 

 ble. The length of the head is contained four times and 

 one third in the total length of the fish. 



Length from 4 inches to 20 and more. 



Hab. New Zealand and Australia. 



of the ventrals. The accessory keels on the base of the 

 caudal are conspicuous. The caudal is deeply forked, the 

 dorsal and anal falcate at their t^^s. There is no recum- 

 bent spine before the dorsal. The scaleless edges of the 

 interspinous bones project strongly at the bases of the anal 

 rays. The pectoral reaches to the third or fourth soft anal 

 ray. 



Length 17'5 inches. 



Hab. Northern coasts of Australia and Torres Straits. 



Caranx paraspistes. Richardson. 



Radii :— B. 7, vel 8 : 



D. 8|— I|21 ; A. 21— 1116; C. 18^; 

 P. 1121; V. 1]5. 



Plate LVIII., figs. 6, 7. 



I have been unable to refer this fish to any described 

 species. It approaches most closely to the Caranx djed- 

 daba of Riippell (Atlas 25, f 3), but the caudal keel, though 

 strongly shielded, tapers more posteriorly, and the points 

 of the dorsal and anal are not falcate. C. hajad (Idem) 

 has a smaller first dorsal, and C.fiilvo-guitatus (Idem, 25, 

 f. 7), has a less armed lateral "line, and the free spines 

 closer to the anal. C. chryHophrys (C. et V. ix. p. 37) has 

 a conspicuous recumbent dorsal spine and more delicate 

 caudal shields : the height of body and profile are also 

 different. 



C. paraspistes frequents brackish lagoons at Port Essing- 

 ton, and is known to the aborigines by the name of " ork- 

 budbood." Its upper jaw is armed on each side by seven 

 rather stoutly subulate, but not tall teeth, which stand some- 

 what widely, and reach from the symphysis to the middle 

 of the premaxillaries, within which there is a narrow band 

 of minute recurved teeth, extending onwards to the corner 

 of the mouth. The mandible presents a single row of 

 short, subulate, curved teeth, reaching to the corner of 

 the mouth, without any interior band. They are somewhat 

 taller near the symphysis, but are not above half the size 

 of the exterior premaxillary teeth. A very narrow stripe 

 of minute teeth is visible on the edge of the palate-bone, 

 in the dried specimen, by aid of a lens. The vomer is 

 toothless. 



The breast, temples and cheek are scaly ; but the oper- 

 cular pieces, preorbitar, maxillary and lovver jaw are scale- 

 less. The supra-scapular region and nape are scaly, and a 

 smooth crest, emitting some scaleless lines, having short 

 lateral branches, runs back to the first dorsal. The tail 

 is strongly keeled, and a lateral view of the keel, of the 

 natural size, is represented in fig. 7. There are thirty- 

 three shields, the anterior ones gradually diminishing, but 

 the first of them, though small, is distinctly keeled, so 

 that there is no gradual passage into the soft scales of 

 the curved part of the line. It is situated over the 

 axdla of the second free anal spine. The anus is re- 

 mote from the free spines, and lies between the points 



Caranx speciosus. Forskal. {Scomber). 



Scomber speciosus, Forskal, p. 54 



Caranx tres-beau, Lacepede, 111, p. 72, PI. 1, f. 1. 



Scomber poloosoo, Russell, 149. 



Caranx speciosus (Lacep.), Riippell, All. p. 96, yonnfj. 



Caranx petaurista (Geoffr.), Riippell, All. p. 95, PI 25, f. 2, adult. 



Caranx speciosus, Cuv. et Val. 9, p. 130. 



Radii:— D. 7|— 1|19; A. 2]— ljl6; C. 17|.; P. 1|20; 

 V. 1|5. 



Plate LVIII., figs. 4, 5. (C. poloosoo). 



The various sj'nonyms of this widely-spread species are 

 quoted above on the authority of the Histuire des Poissons, 

 and the figure of a fish that has been so frequently repre- 

 sented has been given partly to balance the plate, by filling a 

 corner, and partly to add, as f\ir as our limits will allow, to 

 the illustrations of Australian fish. A coloured drawing 

 which we possess, of a specimen captured at Houtman's 

 Abrolhos, on the western coast of Australia, represents the 

 dark bars as traced on a bright yellow ground. We are in- 

 formed, in the Histoire des Poissons, that the older speci- 

 mens lose their yellow tints and dark bars, and become 

 silvery. The bars, however, are strongly traced in Rus- 

 sell's figure of the "poloosoo," which measures 10 inches, 

 and the profile of tliis figure agrees better with our fish 

 than the petaurista of Riippell does. The latter has, 

 moreover, stronger shields * on the tail, even taking its 

 greater size into consideration, than our specimen, on which 

 they are small and tender. In the Histoire des Poissons 

 the teeth are said to be entirely wanting in the adult. In 

 our specimen the jaws, particularly the lower one, are per- 

 ceptibly rough to the touch, and the teeth can be seen by 

 aid of a common lens. There is a recumbent spine be- 

 fore the dorsal. 



Length of specimen 2'7 inches. 



Hab. Coasts of Australia. Polynesia. Malay Archipe- 

 lago. Indian Ocean. Mauritius. Red Sea. M. Bus- 

 seuil, the naturalist attached to Bougainville's Expedition, 

 first found it on the coasts of New Holland. (Hist, des 



* Russell's figure is noted in the Histoire des Poissons as represent- 

 ing the shields too small, and is therefore quoted with some doubt as a 

 synonym of speciosus. It ap^rees better with the Australian fish, as I 

 have stated above, than any of the other plates quoted in the Histoire 

 des Poissons. 



