C'hondroiiteryg-ii, with cartihiii'inous 



27 



spinous rays ; Physostomi, with reticulated fin ; Lopliohriiuehii, witli 

 attached to branchial arches ; 

 orders, which are again divided 

 into classes and families. 



The latest systematic census 

 of indigenous fish hitherto re- 

 corded in Victorian waters is 

 contained in a pai)er read by 

 A. H. S. Lucas. Esq., M.A'., 

 B.Sc, before the Roval Society 

 of Victoria on 6th April, 1890, 

 which I have much pleasure in 

 reprinting- for the benefit of 

 those readers wdio desire to enter 

 into the scientific classification 

 of our Victorian fishes. 



;-ills branched together and 

 skeleton ; and many other 



SKELETON OF FISH. 



A SYSTEMATIC CENSUS OF INDIGENOUS FISH HITHERTO RECORDED FROM VICTORIAN WATERS. 



By a. H. S. Lucas, M.A., B.Sc. 

 l7it7'odiK:finn. 



The classification followed in this census is that adopted by the Hon. Sir William Macleay iu his Dencriplhx 

 Catalogue of Amtraliim Fish. It is, in the main, that of Dr. (Tiinther, as elaborated in his Cat aloijae of Fishes oj the 

 British Museum. 



To each species is appendeil : — (1) The name of the author who either originally descriljed it or who gave the 

 specific name finally accepted, and an exact reference to the work in which the description or denomination first appeared, 

 with the date of publication. (2) References to the more important synonyms, in cases where it was thought any 

 ambiguity might exist. (3) A reference to the figure in case of those fish which have lieen figured. Where a fish has 

 been figured more than once, usually only the latest or most accessible figure is recorded. The most important of these 

 illustrations are the figures in the plates of Professor McCoy's Prodromns of Victorim Zonhyy. (4) The localities from 

 which the species have been obtaineil, as far as known with precision. (5) The vernacular name as used in Victoria. 

 Those species of which only single specimens have been obtaineil appear in parentheses, as do any others of whose occur- 

 rence in Victorian waters there is any doubt. Amongst these last I have included all the species described or labelled 

 as coming from Hobson's Bay or Port Phillip by Or, Klunzinger, in the Archiv.f. Naturri., xxxvii, 1872, since it seems 

 probable that some South Australian fish have been confused with others sent to the Stuttgart Museum from Victoria. 

 It seemed wiser to incorporate in the census the species as given by so considerable an authority as Dr. Kltinzinger, but 

 questions of local distribution can only be satisfactorily settled by resident local workers, and it remains for evidence to 

 be forthcoming to vindicate Dr. Klunzinger's Victorian records. 



As it stands, the list includes 23.S species. There can be no doubt but that many additions will be made, 

 especially of smaller species, and of species living in deeper waters which require the use of the trawl for their capture. 

 On the other liand, it seems higldy probable that several forms ranked as species are really but varieties. This is notably 

 the case in the genera Monacanthus, Labrichthys, and possibly Galaxias. 



J^ti h nitwit "^t -t-1 



V 



HORSK M.4CKEREL. 



