178 EDIBLE FISHES OE NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Group I.— CHATOESSINA. 



Mouth transverse, inferior or subinferior, narrow, and toothless ; upper 

 jaw overlapping the lower. Abdomen serrated. 



Genus I.— CHATOESSUS. 



Chatoessus, sp. Cuvier, B,egne Anim. 



Chatoessus^ Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. xxxi. p. 94. 



Branchiostegals live or six : pseudobrauchise present. Body compressed^ 

 oblong-ovate, with the abdominal serrature extending forward into the 

 thoracic region. Mouth anterior, the cleft small and more or less transverse : 

 snout obtuse or obtusely conical, more or less projecting beyond the jaw: 

 maxillary coalescent with the ethmoid, its upper portion being behind the pre- 

 maxillary. Teeth none. Eyes with free adipose lids. Dorsal fin situated 

 opposite to the ventrals : anal of moderate length, or rather long. Scales of 

 moderate size. 



Geographical distribution. — Coasts and fresh waters from Australia, 

 through Slalaysia, eastward to India, and northward to China and Japan ; 

 North and Central America. 



CHi^TOESSUS EICHAEDSONI. 



Cliatoesstis erehi, Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict. i. p. 184 (jiot Gunther). 

 Chatoessus ricUardsonii, Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict. ii. p. 141; ; Maclear, 



Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iv. p. 3G9 ; Woods, Eisher. N. S. Wales, 



p. 106. 



Bony Bream. 



B. vi. D. 15. A. 20. Y. 7. P. 15. C. 17. L. lat. 45. L. tr. 17. 



Length of head 5'10, of caudal fin 4"75, height of body 3"00 in the total 

 length. Eye rather small, with the adipose lid moderately developed, 

 though not reaching the pupil, in front, rudimentary behind ; its diameter 

 4'50 in the length of the head, a little longer than the rather obtuse snout, 

 and 1"25 in the convex interoi'bital space. Nostrils approximate, pierced in 

 a lateral groove midway between the tip of the snout and the orbit ; the 

 anterior small, elliptical, and vertical ; the posterior large and subcircular. 

 Upper profile of head flat, bordered by an elevated hexagonal ridge, which 

 commences on the snout, and touching the supraciliary ridge, passes on to 

 the extremity of the occiput, where it forms ati obtuse angle with its 

 fellow. Upper jaw the longer. Cleft of mouth small and transverse, 

 the maxilla reaching to beneath the anterior third of the orbit. Opercle 

 feebly striated. The distance between the origin of the dorsal and the 

 tip of the snout is 1'15 in that between the same point and the base of the 

 caudal ; the first dorsal ray is minute, the second short ; thence they increase 

 in length to the fifth, which is but little longer than the fourth and sixth, 

 and 1'25 in the length of the head ; the last ray is divided to the base, the 

 anterior portion being short and branched, the posterior filiform, expanded 

 at the base, and extending back to above the termination of the anal fin : the 

 anal is falciform, the third ray the longest, 2'00 in the length of the head ; 

 the last ray is similarly constructed to that of the dorsal, but the filiform 

 portion is short, barely half as long as the longest ray : the veutrals are 

 inserted beneath the anterior dorsal rays ; the upper rays are the longest, 

 1"80 in the length of the head : pectoral pointed, its length equal to that of 



