86 DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



The pectoral fin reaches backwards to about the eighth anal ray, and measures n^ore 

 than one-third of the whole length of the fin, caudal included. Of the eleven rays en- 

 closed in the membrane, the first and last are simple, and the others are more or less 

 forked : the fifth and sixth are the longest. The three free rays are connected by thick 

 integument at the base only, and are about one-third shorter than the fin, the upper one 

 being rather the stoutest and longest. The ventrals, situated beneath and immediately 

 behind the free rays of the pectoral, exceed them a httle in length, but do not reach 

 beyond the first anal ray. The spine is one-third shorter than the longest branched ray. 

 The first dorsal commences between the supra-scapulars, there being no interspinous 

 plate before its first ray, but merely a square scaly space between it and the cranium. 

 The spinous rays diminish gradually from the third to the eleventh and last, which is 

 very short ; the second, in the only specimen of the fish which we possess, is broken, 

 but it was probably, when entire, the longest of all ; the first, which is about one quarter 

 shorter than the third, is serrated anteriorly by close incumbent spines, as is also the 

 upper part of the stump of the second. The second dorsal, supported only by articu- 

 lated rays, commences closely behind the membranous termination of the first one, and 

 is not so high. Its rays are successively shorter from the third to the last, which is only 

 half the length of the first articulated ray, and about equal in height to the eighth or 

 ninth spinous one. The anal fin is equal in the length and number of its rays to the 

 second dorsal, and carries its depth far back ; most of its rays are simple and slender, 

 but articulated : the caudal is moderately forked. 



The colours of the specimen are not preserved, but there still remains a black patch 

 on the edge of the first dorsal, between the fifth and eighth spines, and the posterior 

 surface of the pectoral retains a dark purple hue with two contiguous black patches 

 near the tips of the eighth and ninth rays, surrounded by a white border and studded 

 with white spots. 



Dimensions. 



Inches. Lines. 



Length from end of snout to tip of caudal lobes 10 



Length from end of snout to forking of lateral line on caudal 8 3 



Length from end of snout to anus 4 4 



Length from end of snout to tip of scapular spine 3 



Length from end of snout to tip of supra-scapular 2 11 



Length from end of snout to tip of opercular spine 2 8 



Length from end of snout to anterior edge of orbit 1 2 



Length of pectorals 3 4 



Length of ventrals 2 6 



Length of attachment of first dorsal 1 10 



Length of attachment of second dorsal and of anal 2 8 



Height of third spinous ray of first dorsal 1 10 



