AUSTKAIJA.V (iUHIIK-l-; — McCULLOCU AN'I) 0(iII,l!Y. 275 



hidden in ilie scales ; some large open poies on the Knout, intei-orbital 

 space, nuchal ^loove, and preoperculai' niarfi;in. Eye of moderate size, the 

 iuteiorbital Bi)ace broad and tlat. JSnout obtuse, the mandible projecting ; 

 no barbies. Each jaw with a band of villiforni teeth, and an outer row 

 of stronger ones. Tongue, broad, subtruncate, and free anteriorly. Gill- 

 openings wide, extending well forward below, the space between them 

 either narrow or of moderate width ; exposed edge of the shoulder-girdle 

 forming a smooth curved ridge. Pseudobranchifo present ; anterior 

 gill-rakers of the first arch broad and short, about nine on tlie lower limb. 

 Dorsal and anal fins short, with six spines and about nine rays. Pectoral 

 and caudal rounded ; veutrals i/5, widely separated. 



Key to tlie Australian species. 



a. Preoperciilar margin hidden liy the scales ; siipraciliary scales present. 



b. About 30 scales between the axil and the hypural joint aporos. 



aa. Preopercular margins exposed and free ; no supraciliary scales. 



c. About 37 scales between the axil and the hyi^ui'al joint darwiniensis. 



Ophiocara aporos, Bleeker. 



Eleotris aporos, Bleekei-, Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind., vi., 1854, p. 59. hi., 



Giinther, Brit. Mas. Cat. Fish., iii., 1861, p. lO'J. LL, Kner, Reise 



" Novara", Zool., i., Fisch. 2, 1865, p. 183. Id., Giinther, Ann. Mag. 



Nat. Hist. (3), XX., 1867, p. 62. Id., Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. 



Wales, v., 1881, p. 616. 

 Eleotris aporas, Bleeker, Nederl. Tijd. Dierk., ii., 1865, p. 293. Td., Weber, 



Nova Guinea, v., 1907, p. 252. 

 Ophiocara aporns, Bleekei', Versl. Akad. Amst. (2), xi., 1877, p. 33. 

 ^ Eleotria pdrdccphaloides, Klunzinger, Sitzb. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Ixxx. i., 



1879, p. 384 (not of Bleeker). 

 Eleotris jdaniceps, Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.Wales, viii., 1883, p. 206 



(not of Castelnau, 1878, nor of Macleay, 1882). 



Eleotris aporocephalns, Macleay, Ibid., ix., 1884, p. 33 — substitute name. 



Ophiocara aporos, Jordan & Seale, Bull. U.S. Fish. Bureau, xxv., 1906, p. 

 384. Id., Jordan & Richardson, Bull. U.S. Fish. Bureau, xxvii., 

 1908, p. 274. 



D. vi/9 ; A. 10 ; P. 14; V. i/5 ; C. 15. 29 rows of scales between 

 the axil and the hypural joint, and 10 between the anterior dorsal and 

 anal rays. 



Depth before the ventrals about 5 in the length from the premaxillary 

 symphysis to the hypural joint ; head, without the mandible, 3"2 in the 

 same. Eye 71 in the head, and 3 in the interocular sj)ace ; it is much 

 shorter than the snout. Breadth before the pectoral bases about equal to 

 the depth ; the depth of the caudal peduncle is to its length as 2 is to 3. 



Head broader than deep, flat above, and almost entirely covered with 

 large cycloid scales ; these extend forward almost to the level of the 

 anterior nostrils on the upper surface, and those on the nape havecrenulate 



