SCALES OF SOME AUSTRALIAN FISHES.— COCKEBELL. 45 



SIGANID^E. 



Although no Siganidae are included in the collection from the Queensland 

 Museum, I take occasion to record that the minute (1 mm. long or less) scales 

 of Siganus javus (Cavite, Philippine Is.; Geo. A. Lung, U. S. Nat. Mus.) are 

 elongate-oval, with the nucleus near the beginning of the basal third ; circuli fine 

 and perfectly regular ; margin simple ; no traces of radii or ctenoid elements. 

 There is thus no resemblance whatever to the ChastodontidEe, Platacidae, Ephip- 

 pidaa, or Scorpididas. 



SCORPIDID^E. 



Monodactylus argenteus L. Queensland. Scales quadrate, about 2^-3-J 

 mm. diameter; nucleus subapical, just below ctenoid patch; basal radii one or 

 two, usually very close together, sometimes rudiments of others; ctenoid patch 

 large, but the elements very small and weak, marginal teeth extremely small; 

 circuli fine, the uppermost lateral almost completely transverse, the lower lateral 

 oblique, not vertical. (The lateral circuli are completely vertical in Platax and 

 Microccmthus) . 



This is quite distinct from the other families discussed above. 



GOBIIDJE. 



Krefftius australis Krefft. Queensland. Scales about 5-6 mm. broad 

 and 4^-5 long ; of the usual form for the family ; a single row of sharp teeth on 

 apical margin, small in the middle, long at the sides ; basal radii about 16 to 18. 

 Latinucleate scales have all the teeth large. Compared with Hypseleotris com- 

 pressus, these scales are larger, and not so broad in proportion to their length; 

 but the structure is essentially the same. Gobiid scales are very uniform all 

 over the world, differing only in minor characters. Thus Chonophorus nelsoni 

 (Rio Culebra, Panama ; Meek and Hildebrand) has the scales longer than broad, 

 with only 6 to 9 basal radii. The lateral circuli also are much less numerous 

 than in Krefftius australis. 



PTEROPSARID^. 



Parapercis cylindrica Bloch. Darnley Island. Scales about 2-2^ mm. 

 diameter, quadrate, or longer than broad, the sides parallel, or diverging basally ; 

 about 7 to 13 basal radii, arranged f anwise ; basal margin scalloped ; basal circuli 

 very dense; lateral circuli widely spaced, completely vertical; ctenoid patch 

 large, the marginal teeth large and sharp, the submarginal elements mostly about 

 as long as broad. Other scales of this species, from a different locality (pre- 

 sumably), were described in my former paper. Authors refer the genus to the 

 Nototheniida?, or to the Leptoscopidae. 



