114 DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



Inches. Lines. 

 Thickness behind the shoulders nearly 5 



Length of pectorals 



Length of ventrals 



Height of seventh dorsal spine 



Height of highest part of anal 



Length of a caudal lobe 





 

 10 

 

 



Depth of caudal fork 



Vertical diameter of the mouth 



Length of dental limbs of intermaxillaries 8 



Length of pedicles of ditto 9 



Length of descending part of stomach from the gullet 2 4 



Length of pyloric branch 5 



Length of small gut 5 6 



Length of rectum 1 6 



Length of largest pyloric caecum 1 



The Banksian collection of drawings, made during Cook's first two voyages, contains 

 four figures of New Zealand fish, having the generic aspect of Latris. The first in 

 chronological order is the Sdcena salmonea, pi. 66. no. 19. of Parkinson, and represents 

 a fish which inhabits Totserauue, a cove within the island of Motuaro in Queen Char- 

 lotte's Sound. The figure is an unfinished pencil sketch, exhibiting the general form 

 of Latris, but the details are not sufficiently made out to enable us to assign the system- 

 atic place of the fish with confidence. The dorsal fins are contiguous, the first con- 

 taining fifteen strong spines, the third and fourth of which are the tallest, and the last 

 one very short ; the number of rays in the second fin is not indicated, nor is it shown 

 whether it commences with a spine or not. The ventrals are attached beneath the 

 posterior third of the pectorals, and the caudal is forked. 



The next figure is by George Forster, and is entitled Scuena lineata (vol. ii. pi. 204.). 

 It represents a fish which was taken in Dusky Bay, and Schneider (p. 342) has pub- 

 lished a short account of it from J. R. Forster's manuscripts, under the head of Cichla 

 lineata. This description agrees so well, as far as it goes, with the Port Arthur Trum- 

 peter, particularly in the distribution of the alternate light and dark stripes and in the 

 numbers of the fin rays, that I should have considered them to be the same species, had 

 the figure not indicated a fish with a larger mouth, more conspicuous teeth, and a some- 

 what different physiognomy. Only fourteen or fifteen dorsal spines are shown in the 

 sketch, but the following are the numbers mentioned by Schneider, expressed in the 

 modern notation: Br. 6; D. 18|36; A. 1|26 ; C. 30; P. 17; V. 1|5. Forster states 

 that the fish frequents rocky places, delighting in narrow straits between two cUffs ; and 

 that the sailors caught it with a hook and named it ' yellow tail.' Its length was two 

 feet, its height seven inches, and its flavour, when cooked, agreeable. Should it prove, 



