72 DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



is beautifully striped with red and blue on the sides of the head. Is a very good fish 

 for the table. {Odax algensis.) 



22. Leather Jacket. Saltwater. Four specimens. This fish is ornamented on the 

 sides with beautiful blue and yellow stripes, and on the belly are blue spots. Common 

 size. (Aleuteres paragaudatus, nob.) 



23. Soldier Crab. Three specimens. Constantly at war with each other, and fight- 

 ing with their claws. 



24. Parrot Fish. One specimen. A variety of No. 2, with very broad scales. 

 {Labrus.) 



25. Leather Jacket. Salt water. Two specimens. A larger species than No. 22. 

 When skinned, good for the table. The spike on the head makes a wound that is 

 difficult to heal. Colour grey : specimen of common size. {Aleuteres maculosus ?) 



26. Flat Head. Salt water. Two specimens, of common size. The fish rarely 

 reaches two feet in length. Taken on a sandy bottom. It is good for the table. The 

 back is brown and spotted ; the belly white. {Platycephalus Tasmanius.) 



27. Parrot Fish. Salt water. One specimen. This fish, even after death, exhibits 

 almost all the colours of the rainbow, and it deserves its name from the brilliancy of the 

 hues of its skin. It is good for the table. {Labrus laticlavius.) 



28. Kelp Fish. Salt water. A variety of No. 21. This species has a dark stripe, 

 which No. 21 . has not. {Odax balteatus, Cuv. ?) 



29. Sea Horse. One specimen, a variety of No. 18, without the tentacula. {Syn- 

 gnathus.) 



30. Tail of the Sting Ray. The fish sometimes weighs from two to three cwt. 

 When attacked it lashes its tail violently, and its spine makes a wound which is dan- 

 gerous, painful, and difficult to heal. {Trygon.) 



31. Rock Cod. {Gadus?) Saltwater. One specimen. Changes colour in dying. 

 Good for the table. F. J. Lempriere. 



The specimens contained in the second and third casks were also numbered, but no 

 list accompanied either of them. 



I have derived some assistance from a collection of drawings of Port Arthur fish 

 formed by Dr. Lhotsky. The artist, a convict (employed by Dr. Lhotsky), took 

 pains, I am assured, to count the rays, &c., but being unacquainted with the characters 

 relied upon by ichthyologists, his figures are defective in not giving the exact forms of 

 the opercular pieces, their serratures, the distribution of the scales on the head, &c. I 

 have not, therefore, been able confidently to assign some of them to their proper 

 species. 



One of the best executed figures is that of a Capros, of which I have received no 

 specimens. The general form is not very dissimilar to that of the Zeus faber, but the 

 first dorsal is shorter and higher ; the mouth is still more protractile, and there are no 



