240 



could not be ascertained. It appeared to have been large, and its 

 coats to have been soft, fibrous, and nacry, and thougb thick, very 

 readily tom. The mėlt was enclosed in a deUcate capsule with a 

 long semiiial duct. 



• Under the lateral Hne there is a bright silvery stripe extending the 

 whole length of the fish, and above it a stripe of equal breadth of a 

 brownish-purple colour. This stripe reaches the tip of the caudal 

 in oue direction, and in the other passes over the upper part of the 

 gill-cover, along the sides of the head to the mouth. Above, the 

 back is of a Hghter brown, and along the base of the caudal there 

 is a purplish-black line. These colours are described as they exist 

 after two or three years of maceration in spirits, and they have doubt- 

 less undergone alteration since the fish was taken. 



Science is indebted for this novel and highly interesting form of 

 fish to the late Captain Sir Everard Home, who never lošt an oppor- 

 tvmity of adding to our Natūrai History collections. He obtained it 

 in King George's Sound. Some half-digested pieces of fish were 

 found in the mouth, but nothing except mucus in the intestines. 



Dimensions. 



Inches. 

 Length from tip of the snout to extremity of caudal, 



exclusive of rostrai barbel 16*50 



from tip of the snout to tip of the gill-cover. . 4-80 



from tip of tbe snout to fore-edge of the orbit 3-00 



from tip of the snout to anus 10"00 



Distance between the orbits 0*38 



Length of diameter of the eye 0-45 



of rostrai barbel 0-62 



from posterior angle of the eye to the tip of 



the gill-cover 143 



of the opening of the mouth T 10 



Height of the head behind the preoperculum 0*65 



Greatest breadth of shoulders or nape 0*70 



Height of body behind the pectorals 1 "00 



Length of naked space betvveen dorsal and caudal . , 2-00 



of caudal fin 2-50 



of attachment of anai fin 1 "80 



of pectorals 0"95 



Height of posterior dorsal rays 0*80 



