FISHES OF NEW ZEALAND. 69 



Brown, marbled with ligliter, darker on the snout ; head spotted 

 with white. 



A single male specimen, 3|- inches long, dredged in Wellington 

 Harbour. 



Stigmatophoua. 



Tail not prehensile ; no caudal fin ; body depressed, with the ridges 

 obsolete, those of the trunk being continuous with those of the tail ; 

 shields covered with soft skin ; pectoral fins ; tail tapering to a very fine 

 point ; males with an egg jiouch on the tail. 



Australian seas. 



111. STIGMATOPHORA LONGIROSTRIS. sp. nov. CM. 



D. 66- 67 ; Osseous rings, 21 + 72. 



Snout nearly two and a half times as long as the remaining part of 

 the head; operculum with a distinct median longitudinal ridge, but 

 slightly developed in the yonng ; tail more than twice as long as the 

 trunk alone, but not twice as long as the trunk and head together ; egg 

 pouch shorter than the trunk, extending over twenty rings. 



Above brown, with a single row on each side of black spots at the 

 sutures of the rings of the trunk, not extending on to the tail ; in the 

 young the back is uiiiform light brown. 



Wellington Harbour, common, attaining a length of 14 inches. 



SOLENOGNATHUS. 



Tail prehensile ; body compressed, deeper than broad ; shields liard 

 rugose; pectoral fins ; tail shorter than the body j no caudal fin. 

 Chinese and Australian seas. 



112. SOLENOGNATHUS SPINOSISSIMUS. Gunth. CM. 



S. spinosissimus, Giinth., VIII., 195. 

 P. 23 - 24 ; D. 38 ; Osseous rings, 25 + 53. 

 Dorsal surface slightly convex ; shields rough, with small spines, the 

 centre of each with a cluster of larger ones ; the whole of the head and 

 snout spiny, larger on the margins of the orbits ; snout about one and 

 a half times as long as the rest of the head ; dorsal situated on the tail, 

 commencing one ring behind the vent. 



A single dried and bleached specimen, 14 inches long. 

 Tasmania. 



