DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 145 



profundi sulcatum, intermaxillas fer^ tegens, et cum lllis movens. Operculum 

 osseum alt6 sinuatum, hinc bilobatum, cum genu scjuamis parvis tectum. Dorsum 

 monopterygium. Costes hranchiostegce quinque. Pinnae ventrales pon^ pectorales 

 sitae, radiis quinque ramosis et uno aculealo sustentatse. Radii spinosi piiinarum 

 dorsi anique fortes. Fasciae squamosae inter radios articulates pinnarum vertica- 

 lium decurrentes. 

 HoPLEGNATHUs CoNWAYii spccies unica cognata. — Oplegnathus Conwayii, Richard- 

 son, Zool. Proceed., March 10, 1840. 



Tab. VII. Fig. 1. 



Radii.— Bt. 5-5; p. 18; V. 1|5; D. 12|12; A. 3|]2; C. 15^. 



Form. — Profile oval from the jaws to behind the dorsal and anal, where it is joined 

 by a short tail. The vertical axis of the oval is contained twice, and one-half in the 

 longitudinal one, from which the tail is excluded, the greatest depth being under the 

 middle of the dorsal. The upper and under profiles of the head are both equally con- 

 vex, being parts of the regular curves, but there is a slight gibbosity above the 

 nostrils, and the jaws project somewhat from the ellipsis. The thickness of the body 

 appears to have been about two-thirds of the height, but the specimen being stuffed, 

 its exact shape cannot be ascertained. 



The head forms a quarter of the whole length, caudal included. The orbit, placed 

 near the upper profile, is exactly its own diameter behind the furrow at the base of the 

 intermaxillaries, and about twice as far from the tip of the gill-cover. The space be- 

 tween the eyes is somewhat less than two diameters of the orbit. The nostrils are 

 situated near the upper anterior angle of the eye, the two openings near each other. 

 The posterior one is the largest ; the anterior one has a slightly tubular margin. The 

 intermaxillaries and lower jaw have a convex horse-shoe form, with on the anterior part 

 four or five rows of small, smooth, oval teeth ranged in quincuncial order, shining 

 through the smooth surface as in Scarus. The cutting edge of the jaws is irregularly 

 granular from the projections of the teeth in use, but there are none more prominent 

 than the others, either at the symphysis of the intermaxillaries or posteriorly. On the 

 interior of the intermaxillaries, at some distance behind the cutting edge, there is an 

 irregular bony protuberance, with five or six small rounded teeth just showing their 

 points. There are no remains of a velum either in the upper or lower jaw, but behind 

 the protuberance that has just been mentioned, there is a small rounded knob on each 

 intermaxillary covered with integument, the concave passage between them leading to 

 the unarmed palate. The lower jaw shows no vestige of a symphysis on the dental 

 surface. The lips do not appear to have been plaited, but cover more than two-thirds 

 of the jaws, and move with them. A deep transverse furrow divides the upper lip from 

 the nose. The labial, nearly of a triangular form (its broad and rather rounded lower 

 end forming the base of the triangle) , lies in the lower part of the furrow which forks 

 to surround it. There seems, as far as we can judge from a dried specimen, to have 



