DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. Ill 



The gill-opening is wide, the isthmus beneath the tongue very narrow, and the limbs 

 of the lower jaw do not overlap the membrane, but are even with it. 



The jaws are moderately protractile, the intermaxillary pedicles equalling the dental 

 limbs in length, and allowing the latter to be protruded halt" an inch. The maxillaries 

 are somewhat longer than the intermaxillaries, and widen towards their lower ends 

 which are truncated, and just touch the orifice of the mouth when opened to its great- 

 est extent. They do not retire beneath the edge of the preorbitar when the jaws are 

 closed. The lower jaw can be depressed below the horizontal line, and it then forms 

 one-half of the circumference of the mouth. The oral orifice is oval, with the long axis 

 vertical. The lips are moderately thick. There are no scales on the snout or jaws anterior 

 to the nostrils. There is a transverse membranous velum immediately behind the teeth 

 of the upper jaw, and the tongue is pretty prominent. The inside of the mouth has a 

 purplish black colour. 



The teeth, small, curved and acute, are disposed in fine villiform plates on the in- 

 termaxillaries and lower jaw, the dental surface being narrow throughout, though 

 widest at the symphysis of the jaws. The chevron of the vomer projects in form of a 

 smooth black pad, with a small circular patch of minute teeth in the centre : the tongue 

 is smooth. The pharyngeal teeth are small, awl-shaped, and densely crowded, implanted 

 on very convex plates above and on flat ones below ; the anterior rows of the former 

 and the interior ones of the latter being somewhat longer and very sharp. The outer 

 branchial arch supports a row of awl-shaped, compressed rakers, two lines and a half 

 long, and armed interiorly with very fine hair-like teeth. The same arch has an in- 

 terior row of sessile knobs, and the other arches have two rows of knobs, all strongly 

 bristled with short teeth. 



The branchiostegous rays are thin and flat ; the membranes narrow. The pectoral 

 fin is supported by eighteen jointed rays, the nine lowermost and two uppermost ones 

 simple, the six intermediate ones forked. The outline of the fin is rounded ; the tenth 

 and eleventh rays are the longest, and, together with those beneath, project a little be- 

 yond the membrane. The scales on the base of the fin form a semicircular patch. The 

 ventrals are pointed and rather small, the first soft ray being the longest, and having 

 about twice the length of the slender spine ; they are situated under the posterior third 

 of the pectorals, or opposite to the ninth dorsal spine. The space between them is 

 clothed with small scales, and there are no elongated scales in their axillae. The dorsal 

 commences over the tip of the gill-cover, and runs backwards to very near the caudal 

 fin. Its spinous portion, supported by eighteen rays, has a boldly arched outline, the 

 seventh spine being the tallest and four times as long as the first and seventeenth, which 

 are the shortest : the eighteenth spine is a little longer than the one which precedes it, 

 and is closely applied to the first articulated ray. The membrane is notched between 

 the spines, but a small filament runs up to the tip of each spine. The soft portion of 

 the fin nearly equals the spinous one in length, and is highest anteriorly, where it equals 



