AUi^TUALIAX (iOi;iIl>/E iMcCULLOUH AN1> iHilLHY. 211 



teeth, and au outer row of stronger ones ; one or two inner canines are 

 present on the mandibular symphysis. Gill-opening slightly narrower 

 than the pectoi'al base. 



Body strongly compressed, naked. About twenty-three vertical 

 series of minute pores, arranged along the median line between the axil 

 and the hypural joint, represent the lateral line. Genital papilla large. 



Fins largely damaged. First dorsal commencing a trifle behind the 

 base of the pectoral ; the spines are weak, the fifth apparently highest, 

 and the sixth separated by a wide interspace from the fifth. Membrane 

 connects the last spine with the basal portion of the first ray. Dorsal 

 rays branched, the last double. Anal, caudal and pectorals with branched 

 rays. Ventrals small, cup-shaped, with a broad basal membrane, and 

 originating behind the pectoral base. 



Colour. — Brown in alcohol, the head a little lighter than the body. 

 Two light narrow lines with darker borders extend across the cheek from 

 the eye to the lower surface of the head ; another short one is present 

 behind the eye ; two longer curved ones cross the opercles from the side 

 of the neck, and another extends across the base of the pectoral. Fins 

 somewhat darker than the body, the soft dorsal with au indefinite light 

 basal stripe. 



Described and figured from a specimen 28^ mm. long without the 

 caudal fin. 



Loc. — Cairns Reef, off Cooktown, Queensland ; coll. A. R. McCalloch. 



GoBIODON QDINQDESTKIGATUS, Var. CERAMENSIS, BUeker. 



Gohius ceramensis, Bleeker, Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind., iii., 1852, p. 704. 

 Gobiodon ceramensis, Giiuther, Brit. Mus. Cat. Fish., iii., 1861, p. 88, and 



Fische Sudsee, vi., 1877, p. 182, pi. cix., fig. d. Id., Alleyne & Macleay, 



Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.Wales, i., 1877, p. 333. Id., Klunzinger, Sitzb. 



Akad. Wiss. Wien, Ixxxi., 1879, p. 384. Id., Jordan & Seale, Bull. 



U.S. Fish. Bureau, xxv., 1906, p. 409. 



Proportions of a specimen 34 mm. long, from Murray Island. Depth 

 before the ventrals 27 in the length to the hypural joint ; head 3-4 in the 

 same. Eye 4*1 in the head, and equal to the snout and the interorbital 

 space. Caudal peduncle as deep as long. Breadth before the pectorals 

 2-6 in the height. Median dorsal spines 2-2, median dorsal rays 1-6, 

 seventh anal ray 15 in the head. Pectoral 12, caudal 13 in the head. 



Five specimens 29-34 mm. long, taken together at Murray Island, 

 are brown in colour, the head and thoracic region being lighter. Cross- 

 lines on the head as in the typical form may be traceable, but are usually 

 wanting. The fins are similar to or darker than the body. 



This variety differs from the typical form only in being more 

 uniformly coloured, the head markings being usually absent. 



Iocs. — Murray Island, Torres Strait; coll. Hedley and McCulloch. 

 Darnley Island, Torres Strait ; Macleay Museum Collection. 



Klunzinger has recorded this variety from Port Denison. _ 



