NOTES AND ILLUSTBATIONS OF QUEENSLAND FISHES.— McCULLOCE. 49 



Colour. — Head and body dark brown, the sides between the pectoral fin 

 tinged with deep red. All the fins except the ventral very dark, almost black; 

 a black blotch between the dorsal spines, and some narrow oblique dark lines on 

 the anterior rays. 



Described and figured from a specimen 87 mm. long. 



Colour variety A. — A second specimen differs in being much lighter in 

 colour, with distinct markings. In life, the head and anterior portion of the 

 body was deep pink, the rest of the body being sage green. A dark blue line 

 extends round the lower and hinder margins of the eye, and there are two 

 similar marks on the cheeks. Pectoral and ventral pale pink. Dorsal bright 

 green, margined with a yellow and blue line ; a dark spot is present between the 

 spines, and there are longitudinal series of spots near the base of the fin. Anal 

 similar to the dorsal. Caudal sage green with an oblique scarlet and blue 

 marginal band on each lobe. D. iii/35 ; A. iii/20. L. lat. 42+14; 50 rows of 

 scales between the gill-opening and the hypural. 



Colour variety B. — A third example is intermediate between the first and 

 second specimens, being lighter like the last but having none of its striking 

 colour markings. D. iii/36 ; A. iii/20. L. lat. 43+12 ; 50 rows of scales between 

 the gill-opening and the hypural. 



These three specimens differ slightly from Steindachner's brief descrip- 

 tion in their proportions and fin formula, but they vary somewhat among 

 themselves, and I have little doubt that they are correctly identified. Their 

 remarkable colour variation suggests that they represent more than one species, 

 but as I found them living together in the same pool, and there being no 

 important structural differences between them, I prefer to regard them as one. 



The name Poly acanthus queenslandice, Kent, was founded on a colour 

 sketch of a fish from Adolphus Island, Torres Strait. It has the general form 

 of a Pseudochromis, while its pink and grey colouration partially corresponds 

 to my variety A. 



Loc. — Masthead Island, Capricorn Group, off Port Curtis, Queensland; 

 in a pool on the coral reef. Steindachner's type was taken at Port Denis (Port 

 Denison, Queensland). 



PSEUDOCHROMIS NEBULOSUS, de Vis. 

 (Plate XVI, Fig. 2.) 

 Onar nebulosum, de Vis, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, ix., 1885, p. 875. 



D. iii/27 ; A. iii/14 ; P. 18 ; V. i/5 ; C. 17. L. lat. dex. 32+9 ; sin. 27+9, 

 Head 3, depth before the ventrals 3 in the length to the hypural. Snout 1.2, 



D 



