DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 157 



are small and obtusely oval, with fan-like streaks on the base, and the semicircular 

 edge of the small, rough, uncovered surface fringed with several acute, awl-shaped 

 teeth. The scales on the under surface are softer, and have fewer and weaker teeth, 

 so that they scarcely feel rough to the touch. The lateral hne is scarcely perceptibly 

 curved over the pectorals, and is thence continued straight on both sides of the body to 

 the centre of the caudal, where it is lost between the two middle rays. 



The fish after long maceration in spirits has a light brownish-grey colour above, with 

 some minute dark specks widely dispersed over the surface. Many of these specks 

 being formed by a dark line, on each side of a scale, with a connecting streak, re- 

 semble the letter H. There are no spots on the fins. The under surface is pale and 

 spotless. 



Dimensions. 



In. Lin. 



Total length, caudal included 6 



Greatest breadth, fins included 3 4 



Length of head 14 



Length from forehead to end of anal or dorsal . . 4 10 



Length of right pectoral 8^ 



Length of longest rays of right ventral .... 65 



Length of left ventral 4 



Length of longest rays of anal or dorsal .... 8 



Length from tip of lower jaw to anus 12 



Length of caudal 10 



Anguilla australis (Nob.), Van Diemen's Land Eel. — Anguilla ausfralis, Richardson, 



Zool. Proceed., March 9, 1841. 



Ang. maocilld inferior e longiore, pinnd dor si super anum incipienti, rictu oris magna. 



This species was taken in the freshwaters of Van Diemen's Land by Mr. Lempriere. 

 It differs from the common freshwater-eels of Europe, in the relative position of the 

 first rays of the dorsal. When compared with an example of the Hampshire ' Snig-eel' 

 (A. mediorostris, Yarrell), it is observed to have a broader and more obtuse snout, the 

 space between the tubular nostrils being greater ; the pectorals are lanceolate, not 

 rounded ; the height of the vertical fins is less, and the dorsal begins nearly over the 

 anus, or within less than the twelfth of an inch anterior to it, while in the Snig the 

 dorsal originates in a specimen of the same size fully two inches before the anus. The 

 vent is also slightly nearer to the head than in the Snig, which is said by Mr. Yarrell 

 to have that orifice as well as the pectorals and dorsal further forward than in the three 

 other species or varieties of English eels which he describes, viz. the ' Sharp-nosed,' 

 ' Broad-nosed ' and ' Grig-eels ^ '. The minute deeply imbedded scales are narrowly 

 oblong and obtuse at both ends. Behind the pectorals they are more remote and dis- 

 posed irregularly, some vertically, and others transversely, at right angles to each other. 



' Anguilles long-bee, pimperneaux, et plat-bee. — Reg. An. ii. p. 349. 

 VOL. III. PART II. Y 



