148 " ENDEAVOUR " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Spinous dorsal about as long as the soft portion. Its 

 margin is arched, the spines increasing in length to the fifth, 

 which is 3-09 in the head ; the following spines decrease 

 gradually to the sixteenth, the seventeenth being a little 

 longer than the preceding one. Anterior rays a little higher 

 than the longest spine, 2-6 in the head ; the margin of the 

 fin is straight, the rays decreasing regularly backwards to 

 the last, which is short. Anal spines small, the third the 

 longest, and about half as long as the first ray ; soft portion 

 of anal similar to that of the dorsal, the first ray 3-4 in the 

 head. Fifth pectoral ray longest, 1-3 in the head ; the hinder 

 margin of the fin is rounded, the simple rays not projecting 

 beyond it. Ventrals short, pointed, the first ray almost half 

 as long as the head. Caudal deeply forked. 



Colour. — Olive green above the lateral line, silver on the 

 sides. On the upper half a narrow, yellowish olive band 

 extends along the body between each row of scales ; these 

 bands are traceable on the lower portion also, but they are 

 silver coloured. The fins are more or less dusky, the second 

 dorsal, caudal, and upper portion of the pectoral having deep 

 blackish margins. In a fresh state the anal has a very 

 narrow white border, and the lips are yellowish. 



Described from an example 447 mm. long from the tip of 

 the snout to the end of the caudal fin. 



Assuming that the descriptions^-^ and figure^ of Latridopsis 

 ciliaris are correct, L. forsteri difl'ers from that species in 

 having the preopercular margin entire instead of ciliated, 

 and more than one hundred scales between the operculum 

 and the hypural joint. L. ciliaris was first obtained in New 

 Zealand, but Richardson^ described and figured a specimen 

 which was said to have been taken in Port Jackson. It 

 would appear that no other example having the characters 

 ascribed to his fish has since been taken in Australian waters, 

 all later records of L. ciliaris from here being based on 

 specimens which agree with Castelnau's description of L. 

 forsteri. The fish referred to by Waite in the " Thetis " 

 Report is identical with the one described above ; while I 

 consider Stead's figure also represents the same species. Two 

 local examples in the Macleay Museum labelled as L. ciliaris 

 are L. forsteri. The other records of L. ciliaris from New 

 South Wales are unreliable, and though it was identified from 



1. Anthias ciliaris, Bloch and Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 1801, p. 310. 



2. Scicena ciliaris, Forster. Doscript. Anim., ed. Lichtenstein, 1844, p. 86. 



3. Latris ciliaris, Richardson, Vo\'. Erebus and Terror, Fishes, 1845^ 

 p. 37, pi. xxxvi., fig. G-7. 



