70 DK. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



in brine, and also had an opportunity of consulting the drawings of Austrahan fish 

 made on Cook's first and second voyages by Parkinson and Forster, now in the 

 Banksian library, has added a few references and remarks to the original descriptions 

 of some of the species. The specimens are deposited in the museum of the Royal Naval 

 Hospital at Haslar, and the figures illustrative of the first paper were dra\vn by the late 

 Mr. Charles Curtis, the intimation of whose name is a sufficient warrant for their fidelity. 

 The remaining figures were executed by Mr. Mitchell, an artist residing at Portsmouth, 

 and are also accurate. 



The Australian fish are imperfectly known, and we may infer that the species are 

 very numerous, since the bulk of every ichthyologist's collection who has visited those 

 seas has been formed of undescribed fish. Their forms are in general unlike those 

 which prevail in similar latitudes of the northern hemisphere, and Cuvier has found it 

 necessary to range many of those known to him at the ends of his larger families, to 

 which they form, as it were, supplementary or aberrant groups. Of one of these sub- 

 families, which contains two genera {Pelates and Helotes), almost exclusively Australian, 

 he has said, " S'il existe un groupe de poissons qui semble fait pour desespe'rer les natura- 

 listes, en montrant a quel point la nature se rit de leurs combinaisons caracte'ristiques, 

 c'est celui dont nous traitons dans cet article, &fc." Mr. Lempriere's collection enables 

 us to add to the list two genera, fully as remarkable as the above for the combinations 

 they present of the characters of several families ; and, what is not less interesting, it 

 also makes us acquainted with several forms, which differ only in minor specific cha- 

 racters from their congeners in the northern seas, viz. Scorpeena, Sebastes, Lepidoleprus, 

 and Anguilla. We also discover from it that Van Diemen's Land possesses an electric 

 Raij difi'erent from that of the Cape. 



Haslar Hospital, 16th March, 1842. 



" List of lihh caught at Port Arthur, Van Diemen's Land, October 1837. 

 No. 1. Gurnett. Two specimens, of the common size : taken in salt water: colour 

 bright red, with brown spots. Good for the table. {Sebastes maculatus.) 



2. Parrot fish. Salt water. One specimen, of the common size ; not so brilliant as 

 other individuals : flesh coarse, and to some disagreeable, but not unwholesome. (La- 

 brus.) 



3. Shad or Red Perch. One specimen, of the usual size : taken in salt water : red- 

 dish-brown when first caught : the colours brilliant, especially a light blue stripe near 

 the eye, and running along the sides. Good for the table. {Serraiius rasor.) 



4. Perch. Salt water. One specimen ; but the fish is sometimes half as large again : 

 has a bright silvery hue, with dark spots. Is much admii'ed for the table. {Cheilo- 

 dactylus carponemus.) 



