FOOD AND FANCY FISHES. 307 



doubtedly fulfil, as in the case of the baleen-plates of the whale, the function of a most efficient 

 sieve, lend substantial support to the opinion here advanced (it is believed for the first time) 

 that these giant rays feed absolutely and entirely on surface organisms. 



The one photographic fish portrait that yet remains unnoticed, is that of the carpet shark, 

 Crossorhinus, depicted in Plate XLVIII., Fig. 5. The general aspect of this form is much like 

 that of the angel or monk-fish, Rhiiia sqtiatina, indigenous to the British seas, but possessing 

 a cosmopolitan range of distribution that extends to California, Japan, and Australia. I'he 

 type here figured differs essentially, however, from the monk-fish in the fact that the gill- 

 apertures, distinctly visible in the picture, open on the upper in place of the lower surface, a 

 circumstance that indicates its nearer affinity with the ordinary sharks, rather than with the 

 rays and skates, in which the gill-apertures are always situated ventrally. Several species 

 of carpet sharks have been described ; and while all inhabit the Australian seas, one form 

 extends in its distribution to Japan. Their specific distinctions are associated, for the most part, 

 with the proportionate development of the skinny flaps or tentacle-like appendages around the 

 sides of the head. The type here figured was obtained at Thursday Island in Torres Strait. 

 It was at first anticipated to be identical with Crossorhinus tentaculatiis, Peters, indigenous to 

 the same vicinity, and it has consequently been associated with that title in the illustration. A 

 subsequent investigation of the diagnostic features of the several known species has resulted, 

 however, in its more correct relegation to the Crossorhimts dasypogoii of Bleeker. The com- 

 monest Australian species, Crossorhinus barbatiis, Lacep., which occurs as far south as Victoria 

 and Tasmania, is popularly known by the New South Wales native name of the " Wobbegong." 

 All the known species grow to a length of six or seven feet ; like the monk-fish, they repose 

 during the daytime on the sea bottom, and move about stealthily at night in search of food. 



A few of the smaller fish delineated in Chromo plate XVI. invite brief notice. Of these, the 

 specimens depicted in Figs. 3 and 6 agree with one, in the matter of the abnormal elongation of 

 the snout, at the extremity of which, in either case, the tiny mouth is situated. Both species 

 are referable to the same family group of the Centriscinae, and possess features in common, in 

 addition to that of the snout elongation. Fig. 6, Centriscits scolopax, L., popularly known as the 

 trumpet or bellows fish, is conspicuous for the remarkable proportionate development of the 

 anterior dorsal spine, which is directed obliquely backwards. In the allied form, Fig. 3, 

 Amphisile scidaia, L., here distinguished as the needle-fish, the backwardly-set disposition of 

 the dorsal spine is so abnormally exaggerated, that its axis is continuous with that of the body, 

 while the true tail, or caudal fin, is so modified as to appear situated immediately behind the anal 

 fin on the ventral surface. Another peculiarity of this species of Amphisile is that its body is so 

 compressed laterally that, from a vertical point of view, it is no thicker than a sheet of blotting- 

 paper, notwithstanding its investment in a cuirass of thin bony plates in lieu of scales. It 



Q Q 2 



