EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 61 



examples wliich frequent tlie slioal waters of our inlets, tliey, therefore, 

 escape capture. The food of those examined consisted of .small Avorms, 

 finely triturated masses of foraminifera, and small shells, Avith a single 

 perfect example of Qena striatula. 



This again is one of those species whose range is either very limited, or 

 the centre of whose distribution has not yet been discovered, the coastline 

 lying between Lake Maequarie and Shoalliaven being so far the only 

 locality from which it has been recorded. 



This species should, however, be critically compared with Chilodactylus 

 spectahiUs, Hutton (=C. nllporti, Grnth. and C. ri;5ro/«S(?/rtf?;s, Casteln.), for 

 it seems quite probable that they are but color varieties of the same species, 

 in which case Hutton's name takes precedence. Should this surmise prove 

 correct its range must be extended to Victorian, Tasmanian, and New 

 Zealand waters. 



Family X— SCOEP^NID^. 



Branchiostegals five to seven : pseudobranchiae present. Body oblong- 

 ovate, subcylindrical, or compressed. Eye lateral. Cleft of mouth lateral. 

 Some of the bones of the head armed : suborbital ring articulated with the 

 preopercle. Teeth in villiform bands. A single dorsal fin in two distinct 

 portions : anal usually similar to the soft dorsal : ventrals thoracic. Body 

 with or without scales. Airbladder generally present. Pyloric appendages, 

 when present, few or in moderate numbers. 



OeograpMcal distribution. — Almost all seas ; some of the species living in 

 fresh water. 



Genus I.— SEBASTES. 



Selastes, Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. iv. p. 32G, 1829. 

 Pseudosehastes, Sauvage, Nouv. Arch. Mus. (2) 1878, i. p. 113. 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchite present. Body oblong-ovate and 

 somewhat compressed. No occipital groove, but usually a few small spines. 

 Opercle spiniferous : preopercle armed. Villiform teeth on the jaws, vomer, 

 and generally on the palatine bones. Pius not elongated : one dorsal having 

 the spinous and soft portions separated by a more or less deep notch, and 

 with from twelve to fourteen spines : anal with three : lower pectoral rays 

 simple : no pectoral appendages. Scales of moderate or small size, extending 

 forwards to the orbit or even beyond it : no skinny appendages. Airbladder 

 usually present. Pyloric appendages few or in moderate numbers. 



Geographical distribution. — Inhabitants of almost all seas ; not as yet 

 recorded from the Atlantic shores of tropical America, nor from the east 

 coast of Africa. 



SEBASTES PERCOIDES. 



Scorpcena percoides, Solander. 



Sebasfes maculatus, Eichards. Trans. Zool. Soc. iii. p. 93 (not Cuvier, nor 

 Smith). 



Sebastes percoides, Eichards. Ann. Nat. Hist. 18i2, ix. p. 384, andYoj. Erebus 

 & Terror, Pish. p. 23, pi. xv. ff. 1, 2 ; Gnth. Catal. Pish. ii. p. 101, atid 

 Study of Pish. p. 412. f. 178; Casteln. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. iii, 

 p. 379 ; McCoy, Prodr. Zool. Vict. dec. iv. pi. 33 ; Hutton, Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst. V. pi. viii. f. 14 ; Macleay Catal. Austr. Pish. i. p. 129 ; Woods, 

 Pisher, N. S. Wales, pi. xiv. ; Sherrin, Handb. N.Z. Pish. p. 88. 



Sebastes allporti, Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict. i. p. 40. 



