222 Transactions. 



The following proportions are deduced from Johnston's ligures, though 

 the basis for comparative length may not be quite the same as that now 

 usually taken : — 



B. vii ; D. xvii. i, 10. vi ; A. ii, 10, vi ; V. i, 5 ; P. 21. L. lat. 64 ; 

 L. tr. 27. 



Length of head, 4-0 ; height of body, 3-9 ; and length of caudal, 8-7 in 

 the length ; diameter of eye, 10-0 ; length of snout, 2-1 ; length of pec- 

 toral, 1-68 ; and length of ventral (misprinted " anal "), 1-52 in the head. 



Referring to the relative length of the dorsal spines and rays, Johnston 

 writes : "In the figure in Dr. Giinther's ' Study of Fishes,' p. 455 (after 

 Richardson), the anterior dorsal spines exceed in length. the first soft rays 

 of the dorsal and anal. In the mature specimen above described the 

 highest of the gently arched anterior dorsal spines are not so long as either 

 the first longest soft ray of anal or dorsal, which are nearly equal." It will 

 be seen that in those characters which sufi'er the greatest change with the 

 growth of the fish — namely, the relative length of the dorsal spines and 

 rays, the length of the pectoral and of the ventral — the Tasmanian specimen 

 is intermediate, distinctly correlated with its intermediate size. 



The following is a description of the Kaikoura example : — 



B. V ; D. xviii, i, 9, viii ; A. i, 9, viii ; V. i, 5 ; P. 21 ; C. 18 + 20 ; 

 Sc. 70 ; Sc. tr. 7 + 19. 



Length of head and height of body, 4-1, and length of caudal 10-5 in the 

 length ; diameter of eye, 7 '4 ; interorbital space and length of snout, 2-2 in 

 the head. 



Head compres.sed and ridged above, upper profile strongly arched. Eye 

 small, deeper than long, placed very low in the middle of the length of the 

 head but nearer the upper than the lower profile. The posterior nostril is 

 a vertical slit close in front of the eye ; the anterior one is a round pore mid- 

 way between the eye and the end of the snout ; the latter is pointed, and 

 the cleft of the mouth is horizontal. The non-protractile maxilla is narrow, 

 subacute behind, and reaches to beneath the front margin of the eye. The 

 opercular bones are thin and flexible ; the opercle is deeply cleft forward 

 above, its hinder edge is nearly straight with the angle rounded ; the pre- 

 opercle has a notch in its upper portion. The gill-membranes are united 

 very far forward ; no distinct rakers are developed, their place being taken 

 by curved spines, irregularly disposed. Gills 4 in number, with a slit be- 

 hind the fourth. Pseudobranchiae well developed. 



Teeth. — The ]aws are furnished witii a single row of small conical teeth, 

 about 30 in each ramus of maxilla and mandible ; there are also teeth 

 on the fore part of the palatines, and a snaall patch on the vomer ; the 

 tongue is smooth. 



Fins. — The first dorsal fin arises behind the root of the pectoral, and ex- 

 tends to the lobe of the second fin, the distance of the last spine therefrom 

 being not greater than that between two spines ; the spines are very low, the 

 height of the third and eight or nine following being not more than one- 

 fifth greater than the diameter of the eye ; the hinder spines decrease 

 so that the last one is almost hidden in the groove into which the 

 whole series can be depressed ; the base of this portion is equal to a 

 third the length of the fish, exclusive of the caudal ; the base of the 

 soft portion is slightly shorter. The second fin is formed of a lobe, more 

 tlian twice the height of the longest spines, followed by finlets, of which 8 



