58 HKCORDS OF THE AUSTHALIAX >rUSF.D>r. 



Desci'ibed and tigui'ed from a specimen 'l-ib mm. loiifr, captured near 

 Sydney by Mr. F. McNeill. 



Variation. — This young example differs consideiably in its general 

 form fi'om larger examples 770 mm. in length ; in these the depth is 

 only one-third of the length to the hypural joint, but specimens of 

 intermediate size indicate that this is merely growth variation. Owing 

 to the fact that the scales of the anterior portion of the body are very 

 irregularly arranged, it is not possible to satisfactorily count the number 

 of I'ows, but some specimens have more numerous scales than othere, 

 there being between 48 and 52 in a row between the posterior margin of 

 the snpraclavicle and the hypural joint. 



Syiionynnj. — The name Pimelepleras si/dneyantis was based upon a 

 large stuffed example from Port Jackson, thirty inches long, which, 

 according to Giinther's description, had 67 scales on the lateral line and 

 only 11 dorsal rays. In both tliese characters it diffejs fiom similarly 

 large specimens in the Australian Museum from the same locality, which 

 have 54-55 pierced scales on the lateral line and 12 dorsal rays. Mr. C. 

 Tate Regan has re-examined Giinther's type for me, however, and counts 

 55 pierced scales on the lateral line, 54 in a row between the snpraclavicle 

 and the hypural joint, and 12 dorsal rays, which disposes of the 

 discrepancy. 



Pimeleptenm meridionalis also was described by Ogilby from large 

 examples taken in Port Jackson, but its author later i-elegated it to the 

 synonymy of P. sydneyanus ; as no specimens now in the Australian 

 Museum are labelled as P. meridionalis, and as the typical examples 

 cannot be identified, this synonymy cannot be proved, but since there 

 appears to be only one large species of the genus occurring in Port 

 Jackson, it is almost certain that the names P. sydiieyanns and i'. 

 meridionalis apply to the same fish. 



The name P. dreioii, Hector, was based on a New Zealand specimen 

 now preserved in the Dominion Museum, Wellington. Gill"^ included 

 this name in the synonymy of Incisidens simplex, but some details of the 

 chaiacters of the type, forwai-ded to me by Mr. W. J. Phillipps, indicate 

 its identity with K. sydneyanus. 



Habits. — According to Mr. McNeill, large exani[)les of this fish 

 appear close inshore on the coast near Sydne\' about the middle i»f 

 September, when they ai'e captured by rod-fishei-men ; they disappear 

 again at the end of the summer, but small specimens may be captured 

 throughout the winter. Their arrival is coincident with the appeaiance 

 of a brown coloured seaweed'^ which covers the rocks near the low-water 

 level, and upon which they feed. If handfulls of the weed be thrown 

 into the water, the fish may often be observed to rise at it as it drifts 

 from the rocks with such avidity that they pai-tly expose themselves 

 above the surface, and so leave no doubt as to their identity. The same 

 weed is used to bait hooks for the capture of the larger specimens, though 



•• Gill— Mom. Nat. Acad. Sc. Wash., vi., 18UH, p. 116. 



' Iclontitiecl by Mr. A. H. S. Lucas as Wlldemauin lurinlolti. which is cookod and 

 eaton by people living ou the Scotch Coast. 



