12 NEW SOUTH WALES 



The following genera are peculiar to the South Australian region, 

 though some, here marked in italics, extend to the coasts of ISTew South 

 Wales : — Trygonorhina, Enoplosits, Lanioperca Arriins, Tephrteops, 

 Trachichthys, Chironemus, Holoxenus, Nemadactylus, Latris, Glyp- 

 tauchen, Pentaroge, Anema, Craptolus, Kathetostoma, Leptoscopus, 

 Platystethus Brachionichthys, Saccarius, Lepidoblennius, Patajcus, 

 Acanthoclinus, Diplocrepis, Crepidogaster, Trachelochismus Neophry- 

 nichthys, Lahricldhys, Odax, Coridodax, Olistherojjs, Siphonognathus, 

 Pseudophycis, Lophonectes* Brachypleura, Ammotretisy lihombosolea, 

 Peltorhamphus, Teratorhomhus, Rhomhoidiclitliys, Chilobranchus, Nanno- 

 campus, Stigmatojihora, Phyllopteryx. 



Thus out of 44 genera, which are, as far as known, peculiar to the 

 southern portions of the Australian region. New South Wales possesses 

 only 18 of these, numbering in all 23 species. 



Of these eighteen genera eight extend to N. Zealand, and one, 

 Tracliicldhys, is found only there and in Tasmania, and one (Leptoscopics) 

 has three species in N. Zealand to our one. 



The following genera of the equatorial or tropical zone are found on 

 the coasts of 'N. S. Wales : — Antliias 1, Serranus 4, Plectropoma 4, 

 Apogon 2, Gerres 3, Pentapus 2, Chrysophrys 2, Platycefhalus 3, 

 Lethriniis 3, Trigla 3, Sillago 2, Scicena 1, SphyrcBna 2, Caranx 4, 

 Psettus 1, Teuthis 2, Pempheris 2, Callionymus 3, Batrachus 1, 

 Petroscirtes 5, Fistutaria 1, Pomacentrus 1, Heliastes 1, Synaptura 2, 

 Elops 1, Chanos 1, Chirocentrus 1, Mura?nesox 1, Mursena 1, Hippo- 

 campus 1, Monocanthus 17, Ostracion 4, Tetrodon 10, Diodon 4, 

 Cai-charias 3, Zygsena 1, Notidamts 1, Chiloscyllium 1, Uroloplius. 



All the above thirty genera, including more than 100 species, are 

 characteristic of the tropics, and seldom seen outside the equatorial 

 zone. There are twenty of the same genera marked in italics which 

 are best represented in the tropics. Thus more than one fourth of the 

 fishes found on the coasts of N. S. Wales are tropical. We have only 

 at the most about five and twenty of the exclusively Australian fishes. 

 The rest of our fish fauna is made up of fishes wide in their distribution, 

 or which are restricted to one or two other provinces or peculiar to our 

 coasts. From 160 to 170 species have been found in no other parts of 

 Australia but on the coasts of New South Wales ; but no accurate 

 conclusion can be drawn from this, as our coasts have been so very much 

 better searched than those of any other Colony, and there are very many 

 and very extensive parts of the Australian coast line which have never 

 been searched at all. Thus, for instance, we know nothing of the fish 

 fauna of the coast between Adelaide and King George's Sound, and of 

 the north coast Port Darwin has been the only portion seai'ched, and 

 that far from thoroughly. In a journey I made to the head of the 

 Mitchell I found in some of the tributaries three new species of fresh- 

 water fish, including a Synaptura or sole. This will show what there is 

 still to be done in the watershed of Carpentaria. 



A good many of the 160 species mentioned above are Indian fishes, — 

 that is found on the Indian Archipelago or on the coastsof the Indian Ocean, 

 It may therefore be fairly inferred that, if they are found on the coasts 

 of N. S. Wales, they will also be found on the intervening shores of North 

 and North-east Australia when they are searched. 



* Macleay's Loplborliomhus is a synonym of this genus. 



