EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 2o 



spines, subdivided at the tip into from three to ten spinelets, inter- and 

 subopercular margins finely serrated : posttemporal and clavicle with a 

 variable number of short strong denticulatious. Teeth villiform ; the jaws 

 with a narrow band, separated at the symphyses ; vomer with a triangular 

 patch ; a minute patch present or absent on the anterior edge of the 

 palatines ; tongue smooth. The dorsal fin commences opposite to or a 

 little behind the angle of the opercle, and ends slightly in advance of the 

 tei'mination of the anal ; the spines are strong, with the outer portion free, 

 especially in front ; the first is small, about half the height of the second, 

 which bears the same proportion to the third ; the fifth the longest, but 

 little longer than the fourth or sixth and from l"75-2'00 in the length of 

 the head ; the last spine is equal in height to that which precedes it, and 

 1'70 in the longest ; the outer margin of the rayed dorsal is strongly convex, 

 the middle rays being the longest, and equal to the longest spine ; the base 

 of the soft dorsal is from 1"40-1'50 in that of the spinous : the anal com- 

 mences beneath the third or fourth dorsal ray ; the second spine is the 

 longest and very strong, equal in length to the eighth dorsal spine, and from 

 2'33-2*o0 in the length of the head and 1'33-1*50 in that of the anterior 

 rays : ventral fins well developed, with the outer margin rounded ; the first 

 ray with a moderate filament reaching nearly to the vent, its length l"2o- 

 1'40 in that of the head ; the spine is strong, equal in length to the ninth 

 dorsal spine : pectorals gently rounded posteriorly, reaching to beneath the 

 seventeenth to eighteenth scale of the lateral line, its length 1"50-175 in 

 that of the head : caudal slightly rounded, the least height of the pedicle 

 2" 70 in the height of the body. Snout, interorbital space, orbital ring, hinder 

 limb of the preopercle, and a muciferous fossa surrounding the scaly 

 occiput, except across the dorsal profile, naked : bases of the vertical fins 

 scaly : a series of smaller scales extending upwards between the rays. 

 Lateral line gently curved from beneath the posttemporal bone to opposite 

 the end of the dorsal fin. AirbJadder large and simple. 



Colors. — Eeddish-brown above, shading into yellowish-brown beneath. 



The fish which is here described as 31acqii,aria aicstralasica, is undoubtedly 

 that figured by Lesson in the Voyage of the Coquille, and the great con- 

 fusion that has arisen over the genus is due to the statement made in the 

 Histoire Naturelle des Poissons that it is absolutely devoid of teeth {par le 

 manqiie ahsolu de dents). That the fish here figured, the Macquaria of 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes, and the Murray ia and River in a of Castelnau are 

 one and the same genus admits of no dispute. 



Having arrived at this conclusion there only remains to be seen how 

 uaany of the five species described by Krefft and Castelnau can be considered 

 as worthy of recognition. Leaving aside entirely the question oE the 

 dentition — and it must be remembered that since Lesson's time no edentulous 

 Percid has been discovered in Australian rivers — the only other important 

 difference that we find is that Cuvier in his description enumerates the 

 branchiostegal rays at five, whereas in fifteen specimens personally examined, 

 varying in length from three and three fourths to twelve and a third inches, 

 the number was invariably six as given above. 



Comparing the above description, taken from so many specimens of 

 various ages, it is impossible to avoid coming to the conclusion that 

 Castelnau's three species of Murrai/ia — M. giientJieri, 31. ci/prinoides, and 

 M. hramoides — are merely the same species with slight individual variations 

 unduly magnified, and that they are insepai'able from Macquaria australasica. 

 Castelnau's type, a half skin wretchedly preserved and measuring over 

 thirteen inches is in the collection of the Australian Museum, and difters in 

 no way from our specimens. 



