AUSTRALIAN GOBIID^ McCULLOCH AND OGILBY. 233 



Nomenclature. — Gohius fuscns, 1828, was a " provisional " name for a 

 single specimen from the Red Sea, briefly characterised by Riippell ; in 1838, 

 this holotype was identified by its author as G. nehulojnuictatus, Cuvier & 

 Valenciennes, 1837, and further details of its characters were published. 

 In 1861, Giinther (Cat. p. 25) again examined this specimen^^ in the 

 Senckenberg Museum, and identified it as G. idhopunctdfus, Cuvier & 

 Valenciennes, 1837. G. albopunctatus and G. nehulopunctatus are now 

 generally considered identical, and as G. fiixciis has been identified with 

 each, and having priority, it is the proper name to be used for this species. 



Synonymy. — Four examples in the Macleay collection bear the original 

 label " G. darnleyeiisls, Alleyne & Macleay, Darnley Is." They differ 

 from the description of that species in their proportions, but agree with 

 the figure, and the anal I'ays are not longer than those of the dorsal. They 

 are doubtless the cotypes of G. darnleyensis, and agree in all details with 

 an Indian example identified by Dr. Day as G. alhopiuLctaius. 



Two adults and four young specimens labelled as " Gobhts nigripinnis, 

 Alleyne & Macleay, Palm Islands", are in very bad condition, having been 

 partly dried and decayed. They have ten instead of eleven rays in the 

 second dorsal, and the interorbital space is less than half the diameter of 

 the eye instead of equal to it. They are the cotypes of the species, and 

 notwithstanding their imperfect condition, are clearly identical with G. 

 darnleyensis. 



Five cotypes of G. m.arginalis, De Vis, from Cape York, agree perfectly 

 with those of G. darnleyensis. 



We consider M. poecilicJithys, Jordan & Snyder, to be merely the 

 young form of M. fascus, since we have Queensland examples which agree 

 well with the illustration of the Japanese species, and which are connected 

 with the adult form of G. fuscns as we figure it, through an intermediate 

 series. 



M. aeolosoma, Ogilby^*, is very similar to and possibly identical with 

 M. fuscns, differing only in its somewhat different colour-marking. Waite's 

 figure^^ illustrates the characteristic pattern of numerous specimens from 

 Lord Howe Island, having the saddle-markings somewhat less definite 

 than in M. fuscus, and a row of dark blotches along the middle of the sides, 

 below which are some dark lines. This marking is variable however, and 

 is sometimes not distinguishable from that of M. fuscns. 



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

 Darnley Island, Torres Strait ; cotypes of G. darnleyensis. Cape York, 

 Queensland ; cotypes of G. marginalis. Palm Islands, Queensland ; cotypes 

 of G. yiigripinnis. Vai'ious localities between Cooktown and Port Curtis, 

 Queensland ; coll. McCulloch. Sweers Island, Gulf of Carpentaria ; coll. 

 C. Hedley. Port Darwin, Northern Territory ; Macleay Museum. 



13 Giinther (Cat., p. 26) stated that the type of G. fxisciis was lost, but records 

 that he examined Riippell's "typical" example of G. nehxdopunctatus (Ibid., p. 25). 

 Since the same specimen served for both of Riippell's identifications, it seems probable 

 that the example seen by Giinther was really the holotype of G. fusc^is bearing the 

 changed name of G. nehulopunctatus. 



1^ Ogilby— Mem. Austr. Mus., ii., 1889, p. 61. 



15 Waite— Eec. Austr. Mus., v., 1904, p. 176, pi. xxiii., fig. 2. 



