218 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



c'. Body covered with blackish spots, smaller and more numerous with 

 age punctatus. 



Subgenus Oplegnathus Richardson 



OPLEGNATHUS CONWAH Richardson 



Oplegnathus conwaii Richardson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 8, p. 27, 1840 



(type locality: Australia?). 

 Oplegnathus conwayi Richardson, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 3, p. 144, pi. 7, 



fig. 1, 1849. 

 Hoplegnathus conwayii Gijnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vol. 3, p. 357, 1861 



(copied) . 

 Hoplegnathus conwayi Barnard, Ann. South Afric. Mus., vol. 21, pt. 2, p. 505, 



pi. 22, fig. 2, 1927 (False Bay, Agulhas Bank, Algoa Bay, Natal). 

 Ichthyorhamphos pappei Castelnau, M6m. Poiss. Afrique Australe, p. 35, 1861 



(type locality: Kalk Bay). 

 Hoplegnathus pappei Thompson, Marine Biol. Rep. South Africa, No. 4, p. 75, 



1918 (references). 

 Hoplegnathus algoensis Gilchrist and Thompson, Marine Biol. Rep. South 



Africa, vol. 3, p. 56, fig., 1916 (young). 



Depth 2 to 2%; head 2% to Sji. Eye 2^ to 5}^ in head, with age 

 slightly less than snout, 2 in interorbital ; preopercle edge serrulate in 

 young; opercular spine pointed in young, pointed to more or less 

 rounded with age, sometimes irregularly worn edge appearing serrate. 

 Gill rakers 15 to 17 below. 



Scales 70 to 77 in lateral line; 25 to 27 above; interorbital space 

 scaleless. 



D. XII, 11 to 14, spinous fin nearly or quite twice soft fin, 

 median spines longest, % longest rays in young, not over half with age; 

 soft dorsal edge straight or somewhat concave with age; A. Ill, 11 or 

 12, third spine longest, nearly twice shortest (last) ray in young, 

 scarcely longer with age; caudal slightly emarginate; ventrals reach 

 vent in young, halfway with age. 



Head and back very dark brown or bluish black. Cheeks, 

 breast, and belly silvery. Fins dark. Soft dorsal, anal, and ventral 

 blackish. Young to 150 mm, yellow, with dark ventral band 

 through eye, broader one connects soft dorsal and anal. Pectoral 

 axial dark. Fins light, except ventral, greater part of anal, and part 

 of soft dorsal, which are dark. Length to 550 mm. (Barnard.) 



South Africa, Natal. Feeds on echini, crustaceans, and gorgonians. 



OPLEGNATHUS WOODWARDI Waite 



Hoplegnathus woodwardi Waite, Rec. Australian Mus., vol. 3, pt. 7, p. 212, pi. 37, 

 1897 (June 15, 1900) (type locality: West Austraha). 



Oplegnathus woodwardii Waite and McCulloch, Trans. Roy. Soc. South Aus- 

 tralia, vol. 39, p. 464, 1915 (Great Australian Bight, 80-140 fathoms). — 

 Waite, Biol. Res. Endeavour, vol. 4, pt. 4, p. 187, pi. 54, 1916 (Great Aus- 

 tralian Bight, 80 to 120 fathoms); Rec. South Australian Mus., vol. 2, No. 1, 

 p. 121, fig. 183, 1921. 



Hoplognathus australis Regan, Ann. Durban Mus., vol. 1, pt. 3, p. 169, 1916 

 (type locality: Tasmania). 



