296 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



from life was captured by Mr. John Davis, the Mayor of Cooktown, with hook and line, in the 

 vicinity of Turtle Reef, off Cape Bedford ; this is its first record as a denizen of Australian 

 waters, the Red and Indian Seas being hitherto alone associated with its area of distribution. 



The genus Chaerops, represented by the variegated green, blue, and yellow parrot fish in Fig. 2 

 immediately above the Chinus, furnishes several tropical Australian species, that are esteemed 

 for food by the pearl-shell fishers and others having avocations in the neighbourhood of the coral 

 reefs. As its characteristic tints and fin formula (D 13, 8, A 3, 1 1) differ, so far as has been 

 possible to ascertain, from those of any previously described type, it may be regarded as a new 

 species. It having been caught in Port Denison by Mr. A. W. Hodgkinson, to whom the author 

 is indebted for much assistance in investigating the fish-fauna of that district, it is associated 

 in this volume with the title of Chccrops Hodgkiiisonii. The projecting " incisors " of the upper 

 and the "canine" teeth of the lower jaw, coloured in life a brilliant emerald-green, are very con- 

 spicuous features in this species. 



The orange-banded parrot fish Xipliochilits fasciatus, illustrated by Fig. i in Chromo plate 

 XV., is a rare species, that has hitherto been obtained only from the neighbourhood of Cape York, 

 and was originally described from this locality by Dr. Gunther, Keeper of the Zoological Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum, in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for the year 1S67. The 

 specimen here figured was taken with a line by Dr. W. G. K. Barnes, R.N., of H.M.S. Rambler, 

 off Adolphus Island at the entrance to Torres Strait, in the vicinity of the scene of the Quetta 

 wreck. It is desirable to mention that in the reproduction from the author's original water-colour 

 drawing of this fish, the projection of the upper lip has been somewhat exaggerated. 



Two very beautiful parrot fishes, of almost too small dimensions to be of use for food, are 

 represented by Figs. 13 and 14 of Chromo plate XVI. They both belong to the genus Julis, 

 the upper one being apparently identical with Jnlis Innaris, Lin., not hitherto associated with 

 any Australian habitat. The lower one would seem to be an undescribed species ; and, with 

 reference to the intense cerulean hue of the lower surface of its body, it is here associated with 

 the title oi Julis cyano-ventor. The examples of both these species of Julis were obtained on a reef 

 in the neighbourhood of Rocky Island, off" Cape Flattery, and were captured by carefully lifting 

 out of the water, and breaking open, the growing clumps of a branching species of Porites, allied to 

 P. furcata. Such submerged colony-stocks of growing coral are citadels of refuge when the tide 

 is down, which yield, if successfully besieged, a rich harvest of small fish and other marine animals. 



The "ling" of the Southern Australian Colonies, Genypterus australis, Cast., is apparently not 

 represented in Queensland waters, its place being taken here by Congrogadus subducens, Rich., a 

 fish bearing the same popular title, associated with a somewhat analogous external aspect, and 

 which is also referable to the same family of the Ophidiidae. 



The important family of the flat fishes, or Pleuronectidae, includes a considerable number of 

 Queensland representatives; none of them, however, as known up to within a recent date, attain 



