EDIBLE EISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 65 



and yellow, with a, frequently Y-shaped, row o£ black spots basally ; 

 pectorals mottled red, yellow, and silvery, with blackish spots on the upper 

 half ; ventrals and anal yellow, with spots and blotches of carmine. 



All our Eock Cods belonging to this family are ground fishes, haunting 

 the vicinity of weed-covered rocks in more or less shallow water. In such 

 places they prowl about in search of food, or lie motionless and concealed 

 among the seaweeds, and here doubtless they deposit their ova. 



They are voracious fishes, and readily take a fish or shrimp bait, their 

 natural food being small fishes, crustaceans, soft molluscs, and worms. As 

 food they vary greatly, sometimes barely meriting the definition " a fair 

 food fish," applied to them by the writer in his Catalogue of the Fishes of 

 New South VVales, 188G ; the flesh of others, however, which we have since 

 tasted was found to be firm, white, flaky, and well flavored. 



This species is common along the entire seaboard of New South Wales, and, 

 according to Saville Kent, extends northwards into Queensland waters, but as 

 to its extension of range in that direction he gives no clue. It occurs on the 

 coast of Victoria according to Macleay, but the naturalists of that colony 

 give no data as to its abundance or scarcity ; in Tasmanian waters, however, 

 Johnston states that it is " common on a shallow rocky bottom all round the 

 coasts and estuaries." 



S. cruenta grows to the length of eighteen inches, but the usual length of 

 market specimens is under twelve. 



SCORP^ENA BTNOENSIS. 



Scoi'pcena h/noensis, Richards, Yoy. Erebus and Terror, Fish. p. 22, pi. xiv. 



'ff. 4-5, 1816 ; Gnth. Catal. Fish. ii. p. 118, and Study of Fish. p. 414, 



f. 180 ; All. and Macl. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. AYales, i.p. 278 ; Macleay 



Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. "Wales ii. p. 353, and Catal. Austr. Fish. i. p. 131. 



Scorpfena jacksoniensis, Steindachn. SB. Ak. Wien, liii. 1866, p. 438, pi. 

 iii.f. 2. 



Bynoe's Rock-cod. 

 B. vii, D. 12/9. A. 3/5. Y. 1/5. P. 17. C. 13. L. lat. 22-24. L. tr. 8/15. 



Length of head 2'90, of caudal fin 4*40, height of body 3"40 in the total 

 length. Width of the head at the base of the upper preopercular spines 

 1"66 in its length. Diameter of eye 4'00 in the length of the head, and I'lO 

 in that of the bi"oad, rounded snout : interorbital space very deeply concave, 

 its width at the median supraorbital spine 1*40 in the diameter of the eye. 

 Nostrils separate ; the anterior circular, surrounded by a low fleshy rim, 

 which is developed behind into a broad simple tentacle ; the posterior smaller 

 and oval, with a low fringed rim. .Jaws equal, the symphyseal tubercle of 

 the lower scarcely developed. Cleft of mouth wide and a little oblique ; the 

 maxilla reaching to beneath the posterior fourth of the orbit. Preorbital ridged, 

 with three spines on the lower and one on the posterior margin, that at the 

 angle with a moderate, pomted, simple tentacle having a basal lobe : an upright 

 acute turbinal spine : one anterior and two posterior supraorbital spines, 

 the latter having a narrow, elongate, bifid tentacle between them : upper 

 part of postorbital ring with a series of small spines : interorbital space 

 with two inconspicuous ridges, forming posteriorly a rounded junction, 

 which is surmounted by an elevated slvinny flap : vertical groove but 

 moderately developed, a little broader than long, with a conical spine on 

 each margin : two compressed spines in contact on the occiput : temporal 

 ridge as in S. cruenta, but without small spines below the anterior pair : no 



