46 ilEMOmS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



but you may rely upon the characters in the key." I may add that he is of 

 opinion that P. powiri and P. joUiffei are "colour varieties of one and the same 

 species"; a conclusion with which I can not agree for the reasons given pre- 

 viously.- In dealiiifi:, therefore, with the two last species I have added certain 

 other characters to jMeCulloeh's key, believing that with two fishes of almost 

 identical size so great differences, as, for instance, are shown in the intcrorbital 

 width and the width of the body, could not possibly exist in a single species; 

 moreover, ray second example of P. jolliffci fully .supports my contention. 



Keij to the Species of Paraplesiops. 

 a'. Preopercle entiie ; 34 or more scales on the upper brancli of the lateral line and usually 

 6 between it and the lower branch. 

 6*. Cheek -scales in about ten series ; body light, with darl^er cross-bands . . 1. bleekcri. 



b-. Cheek -scales in two or three series ; body daiker, without cross-bands. 



c'. Eleven dorsal spines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. (jigas. 



c^. Twelve dorsal spines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. meleagris. 



a-. Preopercle spinose above the angle ; about 30 scales on the upper branch of the lateral line 



and five between it and the lower branch, 

 d'. Body little compressed ; intcrorbital region narrow ; cleft of mouth subhorizontal ; body 



dark purplish black, with darker cross-bands .... . . . . 4. jolliffei. 



d-. Body strongly compressed ; interorbital region wider ; cleft of mouth oblique ; body 



lighter, without darker cross-bands . . . . . . . . . . 5. po%veri. 



PARAPLESIOPS BLEEKERI (Giiuthcr). 

 (Plate XVI.) 



Plesiops hleekeri Giinther, Brit. Mus. Catal. Fish., iii, 1861, p. 36-1; id., Fiscb. d. Sudsce, pt. 2, 



1874, p. 87, pi. Iviii, fig. A; Macleay, Proc. Linn. See. N. S. Wales, v, 1881, p. 400; 



Ogilby, Catal. Fish. N. S. Wales, 1886, p. 22. 

 Suppelia prolongata Castelnau, Proc. Zool. & Accl. Soe. Vic, ii, 1873, p. 51; id., Proc. Linn. 



See. N. S. Wales, iii, 1879, pp. 353, 359. 

 Paraplesiops hleekeri Bleaker, Verh. Akad. Amst., xv, 1875, Pseudochroin., p. 3; Boulenger, 



Catal. Pcrcif. Fish., i, 1895, p. 338; Waite, Synops. Fish. N. S. Wales, 190-1, p. 28; 



Stead. Kdib. Fisli. N. S. Wales, 1908, p. GO. 

 Uneppelliu prolontjula Ogilby, ibid. 

 ^Suppelia prolongata Zietz, Trans. Eoy. See. S. Austr., x.\.\iii, 1909, ji. 208. 



ROUNDHEAD. 

 Devil Fish (V'ictoria, fide Castelnau)- 



TijjM localities: — ?, Giinther; Port Jackson, Maeleay (P. bleekeri). 

 ITob.son's Bay {Ii. prolongata) . 



Body siibovate and coini)ressed, the ventral contour i-athor juore arched than 

 the dorsal, its width at the .shoulders about half its depth, which is 2-7 to 2-83 in 

 its length and a little more than the length of the head. Caudal peduncle about 



' Proc. Roy. See. Quecnsl., xxviii, 1916, p. 113. 



