QUEENSLAND FISHES.—McCULLOCH. 175 



Genus LIOCRANIUM Ogilby. 



Liocranium. Ogilby, Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld., xviii, 1903. p. 24 (Orthotype L. prcepositum Ogilby). 



Jd. McCulloch, Biol. Res. Endeavour, iv, 4, 1916, p. 195. 

 a. Diameter of eye much greater than width of interorbital space; gill -rakers of first arch 



short, thick, and rounded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . prcepositum. 



aa. Diameter of eye much less than width of interorbital space; gill-rakors of first arch 



long, slender, and flattened . . . . . . . . . . . . . . scorpio. 



LIOCRANIUM SCORPIO Ogilby. 

 (Plate XI, fig 1.) 

 Paracentro2)ogo)i .scorpio Ogilby, New Fish. Qld. Coast, 1910, p. 115. 



Br. 7; D.xiv/6; A. iii/7 ; P. 6/8 ; V.i/4; C. 13; 22 to 24 tubules on the 

 lateral line between the shoulder and the hypural joint. 



Depth before the ventrals 3 in the length to the hypural joint ; head, to 

 the end of the opercular lobe, 2-6 in the same. Eye 4-3 in the head, slightly 

 shorter than the snout, which is 3-5 in the head. Interorbital wadth greater than 

 the length of the snout, 3-1 in the head. Third dorsal spine and third anal spine 

 2-4 in the head, and a little shorter than the fourteenth dorsal spine. Pectoral 

 1-1, caudal 1-2 in the head. 



Snout with a prominent hump caused by the posterior processes of the 

 premaxillaries ; interorbital space broad and slightly convex, with a median bony 

 ridge which is bifurcate anteriorly. The back is highest at the bases of the 

 fourth and fifth dorsal spines, and thence descends evenly to the caudal peduncle. 

 JMandible projecting beyond the premaxillaries wdien the mouth is closed. Mouth 

 oblique; maxilla broad, its hinder margin oblique, the upper posterior angle 

 reaching a trifle beyond the vertical of the hinder margin of the eye. 'Eye with 

 prominent bony margins. Nostrils in the posterior half of the snout, separated 

 by a narrow interspace, the anterior with a dermal lobe. Preorbital with two 

 spines directed backward, the posterior large and reaching beyond the middle 

 of the eye. Suborbital ridge unarmed. Preoperculum with five spines, the upper- 

 most of which is largest; the others decrease in size downwards, and the lowest 

 is minute. Operculum a weak fiat bone v/ithout ridges or spines, and terminated 

 by a pointed lobe. ]\Iinute pores open on the preopercular margin between each 

 spine, while others are placed symmetrically on the head and neck above and 

 behind the eye, on the preorbital and mandible. A band of villiform teeth in 

 each jaw w^hich is interrupted at the symphysis; vomer with a curved patch of 

 similar teeth, palatines toothless. Xo slit behind the last gill-arch; about fifteen 

 gill-rakers on the lower limb of the first gill-arch, the posterior of which are 

 slender and flattened and about half as long as the eye. 



Skin almost naked, only rudimentary scales appearing on the sides of the 

 body and caudal peduncle. Lateral line extending obliquely from the shoulder 

 to the middle of the caudal peduncle, and terminating on the base of the tail; 

 it forms a complete canal from which small tubules extend obliquely upwards and 

 backwards. 



