EDIBLE PISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Perch. 



Plate I. 



B. vi. D. 9 (8-10)/ 10 (9-11). A. 3/7-9. V. 1/5. P. U-IG. C. 17. L. lat. 48-55. 

 L. tr. 8-9/17-21. Ccec. pyl. 10. Yert. 11/14. 



Lengtliof head S'S-S-l-QO, of caudal fiu 4-75-5-25, height of body 275- 

 3"50 in the total length. Diameter of eye 3'66-4'75 in the length of the 

 head, and 0'75-l'20 in that of the snout : interorbital space slightly convex, 

 from 1"00-1'25 in the diameter of the eye. Nostrils close together, the 

 posterior the larger. Upper profile of head concave, with two longitudinal 

 ridges botw-een the eyes. Lower jaw the longer. Cleft of mouth wide and 

 oblique, the maxilla extending to beneath the middle or somewhat beyond 

 the middle of the orbit. Preorbital denticulated on its lower margin, which 

 is sinuous : vertical limb of preopercle slightly concave and finely serrated : 

 angle and lower limb wdth a variable number of strong spines, those on the 

 latter directed dow^nwards and generally forwards: opercle with two divergent 

 spines, the lower much the longer and more acute, not seldom subdivided at 

 the tip into two or more points : posttemporal with from four to six strong 

 teeth, which become obsolete with age : clavicular bones w^ith or without 

 serrature. Teeth villiform in the jaws, palatines, and vomer, forming on the 

 latter a subcrescentic band ; tongue smooth. The dorsal commences a little 

 behind the base of the pectoral and ends opposite to the middle anal ray ; 

 the spinous and rayed portions are subequal in height ; the spines are 

 strong, the fourth the longest, four times as long as the first, and from 2'00- 

 2"6G in the length of the head ; the length of the base of the rayed dorsal is 

 normally from 1'40-1"60 in that of the spinous ; the last spine is one third 

 longer than that wdiich precedes it: the anal commences beneath the third or 

 fourth dorsal ray ; the third spine is the longest, 3 00-3GG in the length of 

 the head, and much shorter than the anterior rays, wdiich are equal in length 

 to those of the dorsal : the A^entral reaches almost to the vent ; its length is 

 from 1'55-1"70 in that of the head, and the spine is equal to the third or fifth 

 dorsal spines : pectoral small and rounded, reaching to beneath the sixteenth 

 or seventeenth scale of the lateral line, 1'75-2'00 in the length of the head: 

 caudal emarginate, the pedicle much compressed, its least height 2'50-3'00 in 

 the height of the body. Cheeks and opercles, except the outer limb of the 

 preopercle, and a small patch on the temporal region scaly, those behind the 

 inner preopercular margin much the smallest ; rest of the head naked. 

 Lateral line slightly sinuous and rising anteriorly, thence almost straight 

 below the spinous dorsal, behind wdiich it descends with a gentle curve to the 

 free tail, along the middle of which it is straight. Airbladder large. 



Colors. — Upper surfaces olive green, the head very dark ; sides and lower 

 surfaces gray washed with yellow : all the fins dark green. 



A few" words are necessary here wdth regard to the forms of the Australian 

 Perch described as new by Castelnau and Macleay, the types of all of which 

 are missing. Li 1872 the former created three new species to wdiich he gave 

 the names Lates similis, L. antarcticus, and L. victorice ; to these, between 

 the above date and 18S1, he added a fourth species, L. curtus. from the 

 Eichmond River. In 187G Alleyne and Macleay described, under the name 

 Pseudolates cavifrons, a North Australian fish, and in the following year the 

 latter author redescribed the same species as Lates dariviniensis ; these two 

 names may be at once dismissed from consideration as being mere synonyms 

 of the widely distributed L. calcarife)\ as an examination of the type 

 specimens at once reveals. Pinally in 1881 Macleay described a L. ramsmji 



