EDIBLK FISIIKS OF QUEENSLAND— OaiLBT. 87 



Ilis .s])i'ciiiu'n.s were sent to the I'aris Museum by Leschenault from Pondichorry 

 and Uelanger from Malabar, and it is from the former that we learn that the 

 fishei'v is continuous throughout the year in the roadstead of Pondicherry. 

 Giintlier later added China to its range and thereafter nothing is heard of it 

 until Castelnau claimed to have obtained a twenty-inch example from the 

 Norman River through the agency of his friend, Mr. Gulliver. Day, in the 

 "Fishes of jMalabar, "" redescribed it as Corrina nciUi, but subsequently satisfied 

 himself that his fish was inseparable from 'S'. albida. 



Uses: — Accoi'ding to Leschenault the inhabitants of Pondicherry con- 

 sidei'ed this fish to be "good to I'at"; Day, however, says that it is "not in much 

 esteem for the table." Possibly French cookery may bridge the gulf. 



Range: — Seas of India and China; North Coast of Queensland. 



Dimensions: — Attains a length of at least 900 mm. 



Remarks:— It it were not for the difference in the innnber of dorsal I'ays 

 I would be inclined to think that the Noi'iiian River fish wa.s S. saldado not 

 S. albida. 



SCI.a;NA LEPTOLEPIS sp. no v. 



(I'latu XXV.) 



SHARP-NOSED .JEWFISH. 



Type locality: — Croker Island, N.T. 



Body elliptical and strongly compressed, moderately robust, the dorsal 

 contour much more arched than the anal, which is nearly linear from the isthmus 

 to the anal fin, its width rather more than half its depth, which is 3-3 in its length 

 and slightly more than the length of the head. Abdomen short, its length from 

 ventral-base to vent 3-5 in the length of the bodj^ and 1-33 in the space between 

 the vent and the root of the caudal. Caudal peduncle about as long as deep, its 

 least depth 3-2 in the length of the head. Head one half deeper than wide, its 

 upper profile linear with a feeble emargination in front of the upper border of 

 the eye, that of the nape gently rounded, its width 2-12 in its length, which is 3-2 

 in that of the l)ody. Snout with scarcely a trace of anterior gibbosity, its profile 

 moderately acclivous, its length 3-6 in that of the head. Diameter of eye oii(> fifth 

 less than the length of the snout and 4-33 in that of the head. Preorbital 

 moderate, its least width 1-77 in the eye-diameter. Interorbital region narrow 

 and convex, its width three eighths less than the eye-diameter and one sixth of 

 the length of the head. Nostrils approximate, the posterior the larger, situated 

 directly in front of the eye. Jaws equal ; cleft of mouth oblique, but not rising to 

 the level of the eye; maxillary extending to below the middle of the eye, its 

 length 2-37 in that of the head, the width of its obliquely truncated hinder border 

 five eighths of the e.ye-diameter. Preopercle finely crenulated, with a few small 

 and widely separated spines at the angle ; opercle with two flexible points. 



Upper jaw with a single series of conical teeth on each ramus, leaving a 

 wide naked interspace in front, the second front tooth on either side being the 



