166 DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



Australian ones, but differs from them in the membranous spaces at the bases of the 

 fins being protected by small grains which do not destroy their flexibility. The thickly 

 granular cuirass is traversed longitudinally by smooth (not granular) stripes, on which 

 there are traces of fine coloured lines. There are four such stripes between the eye and 

 angle of the mouth. The form of the dried specimen is compressed and high, the back 

 being partly keeled. 



MoNACANTHUs RUDis (Nob.), Gray Monacanthus. — Monacanthus rudis, Richardson, 



Zool. Proceed. March 10, 1840. 



M. {nee paleari extensivo, nee caudd setosd, nee corpore papilloso vel penicilligero 

 prteditus ;) retro-seaber ; rostro mediocri ; dentibus latis in utrdque maxilla serie 

 duplici ordinatis, decern nempe superioribus, sex inferioribus ; spina dorsali, subulatd 

 retrb-dentatd ; pinnd eaudce rotundatd. 



Radii.— B. 6-6; P. 14; D. 2-35; A. 34; C. 12. 



This is most probably number twenty-five on Mr. Lempriere's list, and if so is an 

 edible fish, being brought to the table at Van Diemen's Land after being skinned. The 

 skin is very loose as in the Aleuteres described below, gliding readily over the tendi- 

 nous fascia which covers the muscles, and being attached firmly, merely at the gill- 

 openings, mouth and bases of the fins. It does not appear however that the animal 

 has the power of inflating it like the Diodons. Mr. Lempriere says that the fish has a 

 grey colour, and the specimens when taken from the spirits had an uniform dark greyish- 

 brown hue, but after being macerated for a short time in a weak solution of potass to 

 remove the hardened mucus from the skin, the following indications of colour appeared. 

 A dark ring surrounded the snout, immediately behind the lips. A dark band curved 

 over the preoperculum to meet its fellow on the chin, two longitudinal bands showed 

 themselves on the upper parts of the sides, reaching to the caudal fin, one of them being 

 on a level with the eye, the other commencing above the gill-opening and running 

 parallel to it. A dark patch could also be perceived on the base of the pectorals, and 

 some diffused dark clouding on the abdomen, which posteriorly, and on the tail formed 

 a band parallel to the two upper ones. There appeared also to be many small brownish 

 spots spread regularly over the lower half of the body. How far these appearances 

 depend upon the real configurations of colour, or originated solely in the action of the 

 potass upon the different textures of the skin, I cannot say. The species ranks in the 

 last group of Monaeanthi mentioned in the Regne Animal, viz. that group which wants 

 the characteristics of the three preceding ones. The general form does not differ from 

 Forster's figure of B. scaber in the Banksian Library, Bl. Schn. p. 477, and its fin rays 

 nearly correspond ; but in the figure there are some spinous serratures indicated be- 

 tween the point of the pelvic bone and the anus which do not exist in the specimen. 

 A drawing which I received from Dr. Lhotzsky of a Monacanthus, also taken at Port 

 Arthur, has yellow fins, and a purplish and grey body, and comes near Forster's figure. 



Form. — Compressed, the profile being irregularly oval (caudal excluded) , and having 



