82 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



ALECTIS Rafinesque. 



Gallus Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 1802, p. 583 (virescens). Not of Brisson 1760. 

 Alectis Kafinesque, Anal. Nat., 1815, p. 84. Substitute for Gallus, preoccupied in ornithology; 



Jordan & Evermann, Fish. North and Mid. Amer., pt. 1, 1896, p. 931. 

 Blepharis Cuvier, Kegne Anim., ed. 1, ii, 1817, p. 322 (ciliaris). 

 Scyris Cuvier, ibid., ed. 2, ii, 1829, 1 p. 209 (alexandrina) . 

 Gallichthys Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ix, 1833, p. 168 (gallus = indica). 



Substitute for Gallus preoccupied. 

 Blepharichthys Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, App., p. 36. Substitute for Blepharis, 



erroneously supposed to be preoccupied by Jussieu, who had used it for a genus of plants. 



Body elevated and strongly compressed, especially in the young, the dorsal 

 and ventral contours angular, subsymmetrical or the former the higher, the 

 highest points of both at the origins of the soft dorsal and anal fins respectively. 

 Scales minute and deeply embedded, so as to be apparently absent in the adult. 

 Lateral line rather strongly curved to below the middle of the soft dorsal, the 

 straight portion the longer, armed posteriorly with a few weak scutes. Head 

 large and deep, partially scaly, the cranio-nuchal keel trenchant in the young, 

 becoming blunter with age. Mouth moderate and protractile, the cleft varying 

 from subvertical in the young to subhorizontal in the adult; lower jaw the 

 longer; maxillary exposed and dilated posteriorly. Jaws, vomer, palatines, and 

 tongue armed with villiform teeth, which usually disappear with age. Nostrils 

 moderate and contiguous, the anterior valvular. Adipose eyelid little developed. 

 First dorsal fin consisting of 5 or 6 small isolated spines, which are overgrown 

 by muscular tissue as age advances ; soft dorsal with i 19 to 21 rays, the first 

 six exceedingly long and crinif orm ; some of the immediately succeeding rays may 

 also be produced, but to a much less extent. Caudal fin widely forked; the 

 peduncle slender. Anal similar to the soft dorsal, with ii, i 16 to 19 rays, the first 

 four or five criniform. Pectoral long and falciform, with 18 or 19 rays. Ventrals 

 inserted in advance of the pectorals, the rays greatly produced in the young, but 

 rapidly decreasing in length with advancing age. (Alectis: a feminized form of 

 dXeKTcop, a cock.) 



Fishes of moderate or large size, inhabiting all warm seas, varying greatly 

 in appearance according to the age of the individual. Three, perhaps four, 



species. 



Key to the Queensland Species. 



a 1 . Snout long and pointed; eye small; maxillary not nearly extending to the vertical from the 

 eye; gill-rakers short and stout; vent much nearer ventrals than anal . . . . indica. 



a 2 . Snout short and rounded; eye large; maxillary extending to below the eye; gill-rakers long 

 and slender; vent about midway between ventrals and anal . . . . . . ciliaris. 



The above characters are constant at all stages of growth, but there are 

 other supplementary characters, mostly due to age, which deserve mention here. 

 For instance, in A. indica the dorsal contour is much higher than the ventral 



1 This is the earliest date given for the genus, but Eiippell had named one of the 

 species Scyris indicus during the preceding year. 



