EDIBLE FISHES OF QUEENSLAND.— OGILBY. 27 



Waite is certainly incorrect in stating that "the premaxilla is much 

 shorter (than the maxilla), and does not extend to below the hinder margin of 

 the eye." As a fact it is as long as the maxillary, but its distal third is slender 

 and toothless, composed of flexible cartilage. Nor in those which I have examined 

 has the bony interorbital bridge ever been so narrow as described by him.^^ 



The name "leopard fish" applied to this species by Waite^^ and Stead^'' is 

 inappropriate, as it rightly belongs to Plectropoma maculatum Bloch, the 

 Holocentrus leopardus of Lacepede. 



ii. GNATHYPOPS Gill. 

 Gnathypops Gill, Proc. Acad'. Nat. Sei. Phila., 1862, p. 241 {maxillosa) ; Jordan &, Evermann, 

 Fish. North & Mid. Amer., pt. 3, 1898, p. 2283; MeCulloch, Eec. West Austr. Mus., i, 

 1914, p. 216. 



Differs from Merogymnus in having the trunk wholly covered with scales, 

 the outer row of teeth enlarged, and the gill-rakers fewer, shorter, and stouter. 



The most prolific genus of the family, containing 20 species, ranging from 

 the Persian Gulf through the Indian and Malayan seas northward to Japan and 

 eastward to New Guinea and East Australia. Crossing the Pacific it reappears 

 on the coasts of Lower California and Western Mexico, reaching thence to the 

 shores of the Southern United States, the West Indies, and Brazil. Three species 

 occur in Australian waters, and have been thus classified by MeCulloch — 

 a}. Body and fins light, with numerous small, dark brown spots . . . . . . 1. maculata. 



or. Body and fins dark, sometimes with irregular, scattered darker spots . . . . 2. inornaia}^ 



o*. Head with small, body with large, incomplete, brown rings; dorsal, anal, and caudal fins 

 with oblique bars, the former with a large, black spot anteriorly 3. darwiniensisy' 



3. GNATHYPOPS MACULATA (AUeyne & Macleay). 



(Plate III.) 



Op-istliognathus macvAatus AUeyne & Macleay, Proe. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, i, 1877, p. 280,. 



pi. ix, fig. 3. 

 Batrachus punctatuJus Eamsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, viii, 1883, p. 177. 

 Gnathypops maculatus MeCulloch, Eec. West Austr. Mus., i, 1914, p. 216. 



SPECKLED SMILEE. 



Type localities:— Palm Isles, N.Q. (0. maculatus). 



Torres Strait, N.Q. {B. punctatulus) . 

 Body elliptical, its width at the shoulder 1-84 in its depth, which is 3-1 in 

 its length and 1-2 in the length of the head. Caudal peduncle one and a half time 



" Eec. Austr. Mus., v, p. 240. 



" Synop. Fish. N. S. Wales, p. 30, No. 231. 



"Fish, Austr., p. 108. 



^« Eamsay & Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, xii, 1887, p. 561; Derby, N. W. 

 Australia. The species has been beautifully figured by MeCulloch, Eec. West Austr. Mus., i, 

 pl xsx 



" Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, u, 1878, p. 355, pl. ix, fig. 3; Port Darwin, N.T. 



