FISHES. MCCULLOCH. 105 



A large, somewhat battered specimen is 69 mm. long 

 from the snout to the hypural. It only differs from smaller 

 examples from Messina in having the body narrower, the 

 depth (23 J mm.) being almost three in the length instead of 

 about 2-7 ; a similar variation in a large specimen is noted 

 by Collett. The arrangement of the photophores, relative 

 positions and composition of the fins, and the scales are 

 exactly as in the Messina specimens. The supra-caudal 

 phosphorescent organ may be present or absent ; it is wanting 

 in the Australian specimen. 



Loc. — Between Gabo Island and Cape Everard, Victoria, 

 200-250 fathoms ; October, 1914. 



Family CENTRISCIDiE. 



Genus Centrisctjs, Linnceus. 



Centriscus cristatus, de Vis. 



(Plate xxxvi., fig. 1.) 



Amphisile cristata, de Vis, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 

 ix., 1885, p. 872. 



Centriscus cristatus, Ogilby, Ann. Qld. Mus., 10, 1911, 

 p. 41. 



Amphisile scutata, Kent, " Great Barrier Reef," 1893, 

 p. 307, pi. xvi., fig. 3. Id., Weber, Zool. Forschr. 

 Austr., v., 1895, p. 268 (not C. scutatus, Linnaeus). 



Centriscus scutatus, Waite, Kec. Austr. Mus., vi., 1905, 

 p. 59 (not of Linnaeus). 



An excellent series of seventy-two specimens, 105-248 mm. 

 long, exhibits great variation with growi^h. The snout and 

 the posterior spine are very much longer in the young than 

 in adults, and the body becomes much deeper with age ; in 

 consequence of these changes, the shape of the several body- 

 scutes also varies greatly. The following are the proportions 

 of the largest and smallest specimen of the series. Head 

 2-8-3-4 in the total length. Depth at the ventral spine 2-7- 

 1-6 in the head. Snout 1.3, posterior spine, from the base 

 of the soft dorsal to the tip, 1-9-2 in the head. 



A specimen in the Australian Museum, which agrees with 

 Bloch's figure of C. scutatus, differs from all the "Endeavour" 

 specimens in the form of its body scutes ; it is also narrower 

 than examples of C. cristatus of the same length. The 

 dorso-lateral carapace is also narrower, and its sutures extend 

 obliquety forwards and downwards as illustrated by Bloch. 

 In C. cristatus the sutures are more or less vertical. 



