EDIBLE FISHES OF QUEENSLAND.— OGILBY. 61 



Upper surface dark blue to glaucous, shading harmoniously on the sides 

 into the iridescent silver of the breast and abdomen ; axillary spot absent or small, 

 but the hinder base of the pectoral blackish. Snout, anterior part and edges of 

 interorbital region and borders of cranial grooves blackish; a black opercular 

 spot. Fins hyaline, the soft dorsal, caudal, and pectorals stained with yellow. 

 (Named after Dr. Patrick Russell, an early student of Indian ichthyology and 

 author of the " Fishes of Vizagapatam.") 



Described from two specimens, each 245 millim. long, one of which was 

 collected at Darnley Island by Dr. J. R. Tosh and presented by him to the 

 Queensland Museum, the other the property of the Amateur Fishermen's. 

 Association of Queensland, by whom it, along with others hereafter mentioned, 

 was kindly lent to us for the purpose of this Review ; it was taken by hook in 

 Moreton Bay. 



Historical: — The earliest notice of this fish is to be found in Russell's 

 " Fishes of Vizagapatam," where it is described and figured under a native 

 name, which is variously spelt " Wodagawah " and " Wodagahwah." Of 

 his description and figure little need be said, except that he failed to find the 

 scales on the sides of the head, the 7th branchiostegal ray, and the lingual 

 teeth, while the figure is much too deep. From Russell's time nothing was heard 

 of the species until 1828, when Riippell claimed to have obtained a single example 

 from El Tor, a town on the Red Sea littoral near Mount Sinai, which he described 

 in his Atlas under the name here adopted. Five years later Valenciennes, though 

 well aware of Riippell 's action and though he had never seen a specimen of the 

 fish, gave a new name to Russell's figure, and until lately this name has been 

 in general use. Bleeker in 1849 again described it as new from Celebes; two 

 years later he selected it by its Valencienncan name as the type of his new genus 

 Decaptcrus. In his description of D. hurra he makes no mention of the dentition, 

 but Giinther in 1860 follows Russell in asserting that the tongue is edentulous ; 

 he had, however, only a half-grown example in such bad condition that his 

 description, with the exception of the part dealing with the dentition, is a trans- 

 lation of Bleeker 's, while the dentition itself may well have been copied from 

 Russell. Be this as it may Day is certainly correct in stating that there is a 

 band of teeth along the middle of the tongue as described above. Finally, in 

 1884, the first example recorded from Australian waters was described as new 

 from Cape York by de Vis. 



Range: — From the Red Sea through those of India and the Malay 

 Archipelago to Eastern Queensland. With us in South Queensland it is certainly 

 scarce, but we have handled two examples from Moreton Bay, the one, above 

 referred to, caught by Mr. Chris. Dahl, the other by Mr. Matt. Colclough. The 

 only other Queensland localities are Cape York and Darnley Island, the latter 

 being at present the limit of its easterly range. From Malaysia Bleeker obtained 

 it at Ternate, Celebes, and Java, while American collectors have extended its 



