106 DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



Latris hecateia (Nob.), Six-banded Latris {Trumpeter^). 

 Latris hecateia, Richardson, Zool. Proceed., June 25, 1839. 



Tab. VI. Fig. 1. 



The Sparoidea;, as restricted by Cuvier, are distinguished from other Acanthopterygii 

 by their oval form, an undivided, scaleless dorsal, a preoperculum devoid of serratures 

 or teeth, a spineless operculum, toothless vomer and palate, branchiostegous rays not 

 exceeding five or six, and pyloric caeca few in number (from four to seven). The Mce- 

 noidea, comprising, in the ' Histoire des Poissons,' only four genera, resemble the Spa^ 

 roidecB in their general organization, but differ from them in some particulars of struc- 

 ture. Thus Mcena, the typical genus, has, like the Percoidece, teeth on the vomer ; 

 Cfesio has the dorsal clothed with small scales like many of the Scieenoideee ; Gerres has 

 a denticulated preoperculum, and two scaly fillets running along the ridge of the back 

 to form a groove for the reception of the dorsal fin ; while Sjtiaris, in common with the 

 other thi'ee genera, has a protractile mouth. This last character is the one which most 

 readily distinguishes the group from the Sparoidea, or as Cuvier says, " Heureusement 

 qu'il existe un caractere propre a de'tacher ces genres rebelles de lafamille des Spares, sans 

 les se'parer les uns des autres : c'est la protractilite de leur museau : et nous n'avions point 

 he'site' a employer cette conformation comme base d'une farnille particuliere celle des Me'- 

 nides." The same power of thrusting out a tubular mouth is possessed in an eminent 

 degree by the Dories, and more especially the Equulca of the scomberoid family, and by 

 the labroid Epibuli. Some Percoidece also have long intermaxillary pedicles, and con- 

 sequently can protrude the mouth, but not so much in form of a tube with a circular 

 orifice, because the membrane connecting the upper and lower jaws is narrower and 

 less elastic. The Manoideee differ from all the Sparoidea, except the Canthari, in the 

 whole of their teeth being vilhform ; but they resemble most of the members of that 

 family in having an elongated scale on each side of the ventral fins and one between 

 them, resembling also in this respect the Salmon and Herrings. This character is so 

 remarkable in the sparoid genus Pentapus, as to have given origin to its name. 



These observations have been mostly extracted from the ' Histoire des Poissons,' for 

 the purpose of rendering the peculiarities of the Van Diemen's Land fish, which forms 

 the proper subject of this article, more apparent. In placing this fish (which I have 

 named Latris hecateia) with the Manoidea, I have been guided in a considerable degree 

 by external characters ; for I could not ascertain the form of the air-bladder or the oste- 

 ology, without sacrificing the only specimen I possessed. The mouth, though protrac- 

 tile, is less so than in Mtena, which Latris resembles in form of body and dentition 

 more than it does the other three genera of the group, the arrangement of the teeth 



' Since this paper was read before the Society Mr. Gould has returned from Australia, and on being shown 

 the figure of this fish, he recognised it as the ' Trumpeter ' of the colonists, one of the most highly prized fishes 

 taken in the Australian seas. 



