170 DR. RICHARDSON'S DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIAN FISH. 



In. Lin. 



Thickness of body at the pelvis 16 



Distance from dorsal or anal to caudal Oil 



Length of exterior caudal rays 13^ 



Height of dorsal or anal 9^ 



Length of anal 2 6 



Length of second dorsal 2 10 



Height of dorsal spine 16 



Length of pectoral 8 



Diameter of orbit 7|^ 



Height or length of gill-opening 9 



Distance between dorsal spine and second dorsal 2 2 



The drawing made by a convict at Port Arthur under Dr. Lhotsky's inspection, repre- 

 sents a Monacanthus very similar to the above as to general form, but with the num- 

 bers of the rays as follows : — D. ]| — 37 ; A. 37 ; C. 1 1. The dorsal spine is repre- 

 sented as awl-shaped, slightly curved and smooth, and the point of the pelvic bone 

 more pointed than in rudis. The body is painted blackish- green above, with a purple 

 streak under the second dorsal, reaching to the caudal. Lighter green tints prevail on 

 the belly, and the second dorsal and anal are grass-green. The cheeks exhibit a mix- 

 ture of orange and green, and there is a black bar on the end of the caudal, its rays 

 being green and purple. This fin is truncated by two shallow crescentic curves, meet- 

 ing in a rounded centre. A caudal of this form, with a black bar at the end, is found 

 in the Port Jackson spilomelanurus, but the numbers of the rays of that species differ 

 widely from those in Dr. Lhotsky's figure. 



Aleuteres maculosus (Nob.), Speckled Leather Jacket. 



Aleuteres maculosus, Richardson, Zool. Proceed., March 10, 1840. 



At. retro-scaher, subovalis, ventre prominulo ; angulis quatuor spina dorsalis retro 



uncinato-dentatis ; pinna cauda rotundatd, sub finem nigra fasciatd ; corpore {colore 



murine ?) nebuloso-guttato. 



This small fish is, like its congeners, named ' Leather Jacket' at Port Arthur. It is 

 used for food. 



Form. — Compressed ; profile irregularly elliptical, the greatest height being equal to 

 rather more than half the distance from the mouth to the ends of the dorsal and anal 

 fins. Behind these fins, the tail tapers slightly, and near the caudal its height is about 

 one-fifth of that of the body. The mouth is rendered shghtly oblique by the greater 

 projection of the lower jaw, is filled with broad teeth, and forms an obtuse termination 

 to the head. The profile is nearly straight from the upper lip to the dorsal spine, and 

 but a little more arched from the under lip to the end of the pelvic bone, which how- 

 ever descends farther below the axis of the fish than the back rises. The belly is 



