AUSTRALIAN (lOIIIID.K McCU' IJ,()01I A\l> <Mil|-l!V. 2G1 



Key ti) tlie species examined. — 



(i. D. vi/11). Body without lUiirkiiii^ ; ii siii^'lo d.-irk-bliu! sti'ipe crossinj^ tins iijipti 

 portion of tlH> cheek and operculum strirjuta. 



aa. D. vi/13. Body ornato. 



b. Third dorsal spine distinctly lon<^or tlum the others. Cross-bands and dcelli 

 indefinite or wautinjj. 



c. Oheek and operculum with a))(>ut nine lar^o ocelli violifeni. 



cc. Cheek and operculum l>anded, without spots muralis. 



bb. Third dorsal spine not, or scarcely lon<jjer than the otliers. Five cross-bands on 

 the trunk, forming distinct, large ocelli on the sides longipinnis. 



Of these species, only V. wuridif! and V. lotKjipinnis have been recorded 

 from Australia. Three specimens of V. stritj((ta, Broussonet, are in the 

 Australian Museum fi-om the New Hebrides, and twenty-three of V. 

 ■oi'olifcra, Jordan & Seale, from Samoa, New Hebrides, Bougainville Island, 

 and Duke of York Islaiul. 



Valenciknnka mui;alis, Gitvier ^- Valenciennes. 

 (Plate xxxvii. ; hg. 4). 



Eleotris luurulis, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii., 1887, 



p. 253, pi. ccclvii. Id., Giinther, Brit. Mus. Cat. Fish., iii., 1861, p. 



130, and Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3), xx., 1867, p. 62. Id., Day, 



Fish. India, 1876, p. 310, pi. Ixix, fig. 1. Id., Klunzinger, Sitzb. 



Akad. Wiss. Wien, Ixxx. i,, 1879, p. 386. Id., Macleay, Proc. Linn. 



Soc. N.S.Wales, v., 1881, p. 624. 

 Valencieniiea innraltx, Jordan & Snyder, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., xxiv., 1901, 



p. 42. 

 Eleotriodes muralis, Bleeker, Nat. Tijd. Ned. lud., xv., 1858, p. 201. 

 Eleotris traheatus, Richai'dson, Icones Piscium, 1843, p. 5, pi. ii. 7^/., 



Giinther, Brit. Mus. Cat. Fish., iii., 1861, p. 105, f. n. 

 Eleotris lin.eata, Alleyne & Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.Wales, i., 1877, 



p. 334 (perhaps not E. lineata, Castelnau). 

 Valencieunea aruensis, Ogilby, Proc. Ro3^ Soc. Qld., xxiii., 1910, p. 21. 



D. vi/13; A. 13; P. 20; V. i/5 ; C. 13. About 90 series of scales 

 from above the base of the pectoral to the hypural joint ; about 32 

 between the anterior dorsal and anal rays. 



Depth 6 in the length to the hypural joint; head 35 in the same. 

 Eye 5*5 in the head, and 2 in the snout, which is 3 in the head, and equal 

 to the depth of the caudal peduncle. Interocular space slightly narrower 

 than the eye. 



Head naked, with the usual preopercular, nuclial, occipital, and 

 rostral pores ; cheeks and opercles without mucigerous systems. Eye 

 rather small, cutting the dorsal profile, and separated by a flat interocular 

 space ; bony interorbital about half as wide as the eye. Snout much 

 longer than the eye, a little convex. Mouth oblique, maxillary reacliing 

 to below the anterior orbital margin. Lower jaw closing within the upper. 

 Pi'emaxillary teeth in a single series, largest anteriorly and slender, curved 

 and spaced ; they form two rows on the anterior part of the mandible, but 



