EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 57 



Either this species is everywhere uncommon or else we have hitherto 

 failed to ascertain the centre of its distribution. On our own coast it has 

 been shown to be nowhere common, nor can it be traced further northwards 

 than the Port Jackson District ; McCoy and Lucas mention it as rare on the 

 Victorian coast, while Johnston omits it entirely from his Tasmanian list. 

 It has also been recorded from South Australia and New Zealand, so that it 

 is known to have a fairly wide distribution, and as, from the facts stated 

 above, it is evidently not a shore frequenting fish, it is just possible that 

 extensive fishing grounds, of -which we at present know nothing, may lie 

 between this and the last named Colony, which may prove to be the 

 metropolis of this valuable fish. 



The largest Morwong examined in the Sydney market measured a trifle 

 over twenty eight inches. 



CHILODACTTLUS MACEOPTEEUS. 



Scicsna macroptera, Eorster. 



Ciclila macroptera, Bl. Schn. p. 342. 



Cheilodactylus macropterus, Eichards. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 62, and 



Ann. Nat. Hist. (2) 1851, vii. p. 278. 

 Chilodactylus macropterus, Grnth. Catal. Fish, p, 78. and Study of Eish. p. 



411, f. 177; Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict. 1872, i. p. 74; Macleay, 



Catal. Austr. Eish. i. p. 122 ; Johnston, Proc. Eoy. Soc. Tas. 1882, pp. 



76, 112 ; Sherrio, Handb. N. Z. Eish. p. 98. 



Jackassfish. 



B. vi. D. 17-18/25-27. A. 3/12-15. V 1/5. P. 15. C. 15. L. lat. 53-55. L. 

 tr. 6/14-17. Coec. pyl. 3. 



Length of head 4-00-4-25, of caudal fin 4-20-4-50, height of body 3-50-3-70 

 in the total length. Diameter of eye 3-33-3'50 in the length of the head, and 

 1'30-1'40 in that of the snout : interorbital space slightly convex, from 

 1"10-1"20 in the diameter of the eye. Upper profile of the head sinuous. 

 Lips fleshy. Upper jaw the longer. Cleft of mouth almost horizontal, the 

 maxilla reaching to the anterior margin of the eye. Jaws with abroad baud 

 of villiform teeth, and an outer series of enlarged conical ones. The dorsal 

 fin commences above the opercular flap ; the spines are moderately strong, 

 the seventh, rarely the sixth, the longest, l'90-2'05 in the length of the head, 

 and much longer than the rays : the anal fin commences beneath the third 

 or fourth dorsal ray, and terminates beneath the seventeenth to nineteenth ; 

 the spines are moderate, the second very strong and slightly longer than the 

 third, from 3-60-3'85 in the length of the head, and three fourths of the 

 first rays, which are much longer than the median ones ; posterior rays but 

 little elongated : the ventral commences beneath the eighth dorsal spine, and 

 reaches to within a short distance of, or slightly beyond, the vent ; its spine 

 is strong, and equal in length to the longest dorsal spine ; the outer ray is 

 the longest, 1 "50-1 "60 in the length of the head: the two upper and six 

 lower pectoral rays are simple ; the first lower simple ray is the longest, 

 reaching to the third or fourth anal ray, its length 3"33 in the total length, 

 and from one fourth to two fifths longer than the head : caudal deeply 

 forked, the least height of the pedicle 475-5'00 in the height of the body. 

 Cheeks, opercles, and the upper surface of the head to in front of the 

 anterior nostrils scaly. Lateral line with a very slight curvature, entering 

 the caudal pedicle near to its upper margin. 



