"Ts'jI!'''] proceedings of the national museum. 403 



/'. maculalus (De Vis, 1884, 8ril). 



Moretoa Bay. 

 P. nudi'/eua (De Vis, 1884, 881). 



Barrier Reef. 

 P. eletjaus (Steind., 1883, 195). 



Gulf of St. Vincent. 

 P. mortonii (Johnston, 1885, 256). 



Tasmania. 

 P. gracilis (Steind. & Dod., 1887, 273). 



Japan. 

 P. cyanogenys (Ramsay «& Ogilby, 1887, 242). 



Broken Bay, Australia. 



Sncli are the specific names that have been proposed for various fishes 

 of or related to the geaus Pseuddnbrus. That they are the symbols 

 of as many species is quite another matter. It is probable that a con- 

 siderable number represent variations in color or sexual characters or 

 misapprehensions as to the meaning or significance of previous descrip- 

 tions. Only an exact comparative study of specimens of all, or most at 

 least, will enable a correct judgment to be formed on the subject. Such 

 a study is one of the greatest desiderata of Australian ichthyology, and 

 it is to be hoped that some one of the able naturalists of the southern 

 hemisphere will undertake it and express his conclusions in antithetical 

 terms, whereby the relative degrees of affinity as well as distinctive 

 characteristics may be understood. So far as can be judged from the 

 descriptions, almost all of the species are congeneric, but whether such 

 is really the case can not be determined from the descriptions because 

 manj^ characters have been more or less neglected. The genus, with 

 the limits still retained, however, does not appear to be a truly homo- 

 geneous one, and there are at least two sections which may be indi- 

 cated, so that future study shall be directed to the value of the charac- 

 ters. We venture to indicate them here. 



In the typical forms represented by almost all the Australian species 

 the membrane behind the spines of the dorsalis and analis is penicillig- 

 erous. The name Pseudolahrus covers them. 



In one species, the Lfibrichthys laticlavius of most authors, the mem- 

 brane behind the spines of the dorsalis and analis is not produced. 

 The name Pictilahrus may be used to denote it. Pictilahrus is not only 

 peculiar in the absence of pencils or penicillia behind the dorsal and 

 anal spines, for the head is also smaller, and more abbreviated than in 

 the other species. If the meaning of the name Pictilahrus is demanded, 

 imagination may play that the painting of the brilliantly colored fish 

 has been completed and that the painter's brushes and pencils have 

 disappeared. A component of two Lati n words, as in the case of Austro- 

 labrus, is also better than hybrids like Labrichthys and Pseudolahrus. 



Other subtractions from the genus Pseudolahrus (as it would be recog- 

 nized by many) have been made and they may provisionally be recog- 

 nized as genera, and perhaps some fishes retained in the nominal list 

 of Pseudolahri may belong to one or the other of them. 



