72 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



Bramichthys, (jcn. nor. 



FaiuiUl BRAMIDyE. 



Body ovate, compressed, covered with moderate cycloid scales, 

 lateral line present, complete. Mouth wide, oblique ; the lower 

 Jaw the longer ; a band of minute teeth, scarcely perceptible to 

 the touch, in each jaw, teeth also present on the vomer, palatines 

 and tongue. No oesophageal teeth. Maxillary broad, scaly. 

 Opercle with two flat points, preopercle entire. Snout broad, 

 head not declivous, supraoccipital crest well developed, but not 

 extending forward beyond the eyes. 



Dorsal and anal fins long, the anterior lobes elevated and 

 falcate, the first spine of the former, behind the vertical of the 

 ventral fin. The dorsal fin has five spines and about twenty-nine 

 rays, the anal three (? or four) spines and about thirty rays. In 

 both fins the spines are closely adnate to the respective rays. 

 The ventrals are small, placed below the base of the pectorals, 

 with one spine and five rays. The pectorals are placed in the 

 lowei' half of the body. The vertical fins densely clothed with 

 small scales. Branchiostegals seven, caudal peduncle of moderate 

 depth, not slender. 



Bramichthys woodwardi, xp. nov. 



(Plate xiv.) 



D. V. 29 ; A. iii. (? iv.) 30 ; Y. i. 5 ; P. 16 ; C. 17 + 6. L. lat. 50, 



L. tr. 7/20. 



Length of head 3-3 ; height of body at the origin of the dorsal 

 fin 1 -85 in the total ; eye very large, its diameter half the length 

 of the head ; snout short 5-1; and length of caudal 5-4 in the 

 same. Interorbital space very convex, twice the length of the 

 snout. Opercular margins smooth. Lower profile slightly more 

 convex than the upper. 



The dorsal fin begins well behind the veitical of the opercle, 

 the spines are closely adnate to the soft portion and successively 

 increase in height, the fifth being equal to the diameter of the 

 eye : the anterior rays are much higher, the second being three- 

 fourths more, or 1-25 in the length of head ; following the lobed 

 portion the rays are short and the base of the whole fin is slightly 

 moi-e than half the total length. The anal fin is similar in foi'm 

 and length, but occupies a slightly more posterior position : the 

 sequence of the anal spines suggests that one, the second, has 

 been lost, the third existing spine is of the same length as the 

 fifth dorsal. The ventrals are short and do not reach the anal ; 

 the spine is a little longei- than half the diameter of the eye. 



