14 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



Gill-rakers 12 or 13 on the lower branch of the anterior arch, the longest 

 equal to or rather less than the gill-fringes and about one ninth of the length of 

 the head. Pyloric cseca 11, 



Upper surface of body varying from bronzy to slaty green, the sides more 

 or less richly golden olive, shading below to deep straw-color or even white. 

 Head above purple or purplish brown, the sides green with violet and orange 

 reflections. Dorsal spines lavender, the connecting membranes yellowish gray 

 dotted with blackish; soft portion tawny yellow, becoming darker towards the 

 margin ; caudal fin purplish brown, black-dotted ; anal basally golden, the distal 

 third deepening to a violet-brown ; pectorals and ventrals golden, uniform or 

 dusky-dotted.'^ 



In the Thomson River, and possibly elsewhere, there is a dark color-variety, 

 locally known as the "black yellowbelly, " in which the normal coloration is 

 more or less completely obscured by an overlying blackish mantle. This may 

 cover the entire head, body, and fins, or may take the form of numerous 

 small black spots, in some cases generally distributed in others arranged in 

 irregular groups, between which the more typical old gold coloring appears. 

 Structurally no difference can be detected between the two forms. For the 

 opportunity of examining this interesting variety I am indebted to their 

 collector. Miss Josephine Bancroft. 



Described from nine specimens, measuring from 225 to 380 mm. Two of 

 these are from the Condamine at Dalby, and were presented to the Museum by 

 Messrs. McNaught and "Williams ; two are from the Upper Noosa, collected by Mr. 

 J. H. Stevens and myself ; and the remaining five are iFrom the Thomson River 

 near Longreach, Of the last three belong to the normal, two to the black, form ; 

 all five, however, were taken from the same waterhole. 



Variation: — In some respects Boulenger's description differs from mine, 

 and notably in regard to the size of the eye, wdiich according to him is "4-5 

 (young) to 6 (adult) in length of head," whereas I find it "6 (young) to S 

 (adult) " in the same; similarly he gives the width of the distal extremity of the 

 maxillary as 1-5 to 2 in the eye-diameter as compared with the 1 to 1-5 of my 

 measurements. His dorsal spines also are longer than I find them, being 2 to 2-5 

 in the length of the head as against roughly 2-5 to 3 in mine. 



Historical: — The earliest notice of this fine species occurs in the first part 

 of the Ichthyology of the Erebus and Terror, where Sir John Richardson 

 published a description and figure taken from two dried specimens, measuring 



' Of the numerous freshly caught examples which I have handled, not one showed the 

 slightest trace of the scarlet markings mentioned by Castelnau (1), and reproduced by Tenison 

 Woods and Eoughley in their respective accounts of this fish, while the absence of any 

 reference thereto by McCoy and Stead suggests that their experience coincides with mine. 

 Castelnau 's examples were obtained in the Melbourne market, where they were exposed for 

 sale after a railway journey of many miles from their Murray haunts. Consequently I have 

 little doubt that the scarlet patches were merely due to the extravasation of the blood in the 

 .affected tissues. 



