VVAixr:. — Noteii on New Zealand Fishes. 219 



somewliat in advance of the upper anterior angle of the eye ; interorbital 

 broad and convex, the eye being considerably removed from the profile. 

 Month subvertical, protractile ; maxilla very broad, truncate distally ; it 

 extends to beneath the first fifth of the orbit, 1-6 in the eye. Grills 4, a 

 slit behind the fourth ; gill-rakers very long, 9 -f- 26 on the first arch ; 

 pseudo branchiae well developed. 



Teeth. — Minute : in a single series in each jaw, a small patch on the head 

 of the vomer, none on the palatines or tongue. 



Fins. — The dorsal fin commences three-fourths of an eye-diameter be- 

 hind the edge of the opercle ; the third spine is the longest, nearly half the 

 length of the head ; the rays are shorter, their combined bases occupying 

 half the corresponding measurement of the spines ; the anal commences 

 beneath the first dorsal ray, and is coterminal with the soft dorsal ; both 

 fins are receivable into a scaly base. The pectoral is falcate, and equals 

 the head in length. The ventral is inserted slightly in advance of the first 

 dorsal spine, and its spine is nearly as long as the third, or longest. The 

 caudal is very deeply forked, and the least depth of the peduncle is a little 

 more than the diameter of the eye. 



Scales. — The whole of the head and body covered with ctenoid scales ; 

 the base of the pectoral, the large axillary scale, and the caudal rays are 

 also scaly. The lateral line is very evident, and runs concurrently with the 

 dorsal profile, along the middle of the caudal peduncle to the base of the 

 rays. 



Length. — To the middle caudal rays, 344 mm. 



Colours. — After long preservation, uniform yellow, with a pink tinge in 

 protected parts. 



13. Kyphosus sydneyanus Gunther. 



Mr. T. F. Clieeseman. Curator of the Auckland Museum, recently sent 

 to me the dried skin of a fish, the species of which he asked me to verify 

 for him, and suggesting that it was the drummer (Kyphosus sydneyanus). 

 The specimen is not suited for determinative purposes, but I have little 

 doubt that it is thus correctly named, and I included it in my " Addi- 

 tions to the Basic List of the Fishes of New Zealand."* The species was 

 originall}^ described by Giintherf under the name Pimelepterus sydneyamis, 

 and outside the present record has, I believe, been recorded only from the 

 coasts of New South Wales. The species has never been adequately figured, 

 the only illustration with which I am acquainted being that published l^y 

 Ogilby.J This is a mere sketch, and is incorrect in many ways, notably in 

 being too deep and in the length of the pectoral. In Mr. Cheeseman's speci- 

 men of the species, if correctly determined, the pectoral is much shorter 

 than figured, and does not extend to a point beyond the insertion of the 

 dorsal. Regarding its distribution, Ogilby writes, "Either the range of 

 the fish is extraordinarily limited or the local naturalists to the northward 

 have failed to recognize this very distinct species ; to the south no consider- 

 able extension of range is to be expected in a fish of this genus." The New 

 Zealand specimen was taken at Great Barrier Island, and it may be noted 

 that this island is very little south of the latitude of Sydney. 



* Waite, Rec. Cant. Mus., vol. 1, 1912. p. .319. 



t Giinther, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (.5), vol. 18, 1886, p. 368. 



t Ogilby, " Edible Fishes New South Wales," 1893. p. 40. pi. xvi. 



