138 DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



scales, differing from the others in their oblong form, runs close to the margin of the 

 orbit. The scales extend as far forward on the cheek as the anterior part of the eye, 

 and run up behind, in three rows only, nearly to the supra-scapular. The teeth are 

 stronger than those of tetricus, the eight or nine anterior ones on each side not dimi- 

 nishing so rapidly as they recede from the symphysis, and being followed by five or six 

 considerably smaller ones. This arrangement is alike in our two specimens. The canine 

 tooth at the angle of the mouth is slightly curved, the inner row of small teeth is more 

 complete, particularly posteriorly, than in tetricus, and the main rows on each side are 

 disposed in convex, not straight lines. The scales on the body are a little smaller than 

 in tetricus ; the lateral line which makes the same kind of curvature under the end of the 

 dorsal contains twenty-seven scales, and there are four additional rows on the base of 

 the caudal, exclusive of the small tongues of scales between the rays. The caudal is 

 considerably rounded in its outline, the anal is also somewhat arched, and the fore-part 

 of the soft dorsal is higher than the posterior part. The dorsal spines are of similar 

 proportions with those of tetricus. 



The specimens have lost their colours, and the only remaining indications of their 

 original markings are some faint lines curving beneath the eye over the cheek to the 

 nose and a bar crossing the pectoral at a third of its length. A drawing, made at Port 

 Arthur by a convict under Dr. Lhotsky's inspection, of a Wrasse which resembles this 

 species more closely than any of the others in the collection, represents the general 

 colour of the upper parts as dark plum-purple, the belly fading to buff", with four pale 

 spots on the back, one of them on the supra-scapular, another close to the eighth 

 spinous ray of the dorsal, and two others touching the base of the soft dorsal, the di- 

 stances between them being nearly equal. The Labrus fucicola possesses nine abdo- 

 minal and sixteen caudal vertebrse. The first of the latter differs i'rom the correspond- 

 ing one of the preceding species in its inferior process having an acute shoulder instead 

 of a rounded one, in its limb being merely narrowly hnear, not lanceolate, and in its 

 lower opening being larger than the one next the body of the vertebra. 



Dimensions. 



1st Spec. 

 In. Lin. 

 Length from intermaxillary symphysis to end of caudal . . 15 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to end of scales on caudal 13 4 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to end of anal . . . . 10 10 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to end of dorsal . ... 10 6 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to beginning of anal . . 8 3 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to anus 7 11 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to ventrals .5 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to dorsal 4 



Length from intermaxillary symphysis to pectorals 4 



