66 ilEMOinS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



Uses: — Cantor, alUuliiig to Piiiang, states that — "it is valued l)y the 

 natives as au article of food," and goes on to say that "owing to the small size 

 of the air-vessel it yields but a small ((uantity of isinglass, the quality of which, 

 however, is considered very good." 



Food: — Fi'om an cxaniination of the stomachs of Pinang examples the 

 same author concludes that its principal food supply was drawn from smaller 

 fishes and crustaceans. 



Range: — From tlie East Coast of Africa, Madagascar, and South-Western 

 Arabia, through all the Seas of India to those of Siam, Southei'u C'hina, the 

 ^lalay Archipelago, and the East Coast of Queensland. 



Dimensions: — Attains a length of 800 mm. 



Illustration: — Taken from one of the specimens described above. 



ATKACTOSCION Gill. 



Atractoscion Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. Phila., 1862, p. IS {(equidens). 



Body elongate-elliptical, compressed. Scales small and adherent. Lateral 

 line forming a long gentle curve to the caudal peduncle. Head conical, with 

 rather long pointed snout and narrow preorbital, almost wholly scaly. Mouth 

 tei-minal, with very wide oblique cleft, the lower jaw projecting. Teeth in the 

 jaws in cardiform bands, without canines, the lateral mandibular teeth the 

 strongest. Eyes small and anterior. Preopercle feebly denticulated in small, 

 entire in large, examples ; opercle with two weak spines. Two dorsal fins with x, 

 i 27 to 81 rays, the spines slender and flexible, the soft dorsal lower but much 

 longer than the spinous. Caudal fin lunate. Anal short, with ii S or 9 rays, the 

 spines feeble. Pectoral pointed. Ventral inserted below the pectoral-base. 

 Pseudobranchiie present. Pyloric appendages in small number. (arpaKTos, a 

 spindle; Scitiiia, an allied genus.) 



Shorc-tishfs of lai'ge size from the Coasts of South-Eastern Australia and 

 South Africa. Like their relatives, the Jewfishes, which they closely resemble in 

 ai)pearanee and habits, they are noted for their voracity, but unlike them they 

 confine their depredations lo llir more open waters of bay and b(>ach. Both 

 species are held in high estimation for tlm table. 



I am not altogether satisfied as to the genei'ic ijositiou of the Australian 

 fisli. Waite very rightly removed it from the genus OtoUlhus, with which it has 

 only an e.xtei'iial affinity, but in referring it to Ciinoscinn'-'^ he has, I conceive, 

 I'lade an e(inally grave mistake. 'I'liat genus, according to its author and all those 

 v.lio follow Gill's splriidid eonsli-iictional work, invariably possesses a pair of 

 canines in the u]>per jaw, though they may be small as in C nobilis'^^ and its 

 allies. In our fish there ai-e no canine teeth in (>ither jaw at any stage of exijit- 

 I'Mce. Being, liowevei', I'eluctant to establish a new genus foi- our Aiustraliaii fish, 

 in a family already overweighted with sinall genei'a, 1 propose to resuscitate 



"fiill, Priic A<-u(l. X.-il. S<'i. Pliil:i., Isfii;, p. IS, 'l\v|i" .luliiiiii.^ irniili.s ^<cliii,i,kM-. 



