^8 ■ENDEAVOUE" SCIENTIFIC EESULTS. 



and occupying thirteen tail-rings. They were collected in 



the latter part of November, 1909. 



The specimens are from the following localities :■ — 

 South-east from Babel Island, off Flinders Island, Bass 



Strait. 



Disaster Bay, southern New South Wales. 



SOLEGXATHUS ROBUSTUS, Sp. HOV. 



(Plate ix., fig. 2.) 



D. 34, P. 24-25. Body rings, 26 + 50. 



Head 6"4 in the length and 3*7 in the trunk. Length of tail 

 a little less than the distance between the vent and the pec- 

 torals, its depth behind the dorsal 3*2 in the base of that fin. 

 Snout I '7 in the head, its depth nearly 5 in its length, and 

 less than the diameter of the eye which is 4' i in the snout. 

 Narrowest interorbital width a little less than half the diameter 

 of the eye. Dorsal fin occupying ten body rings, the length 

 of its base almost equal to the distance between the tip of 

 the snout and the posterior border of the eye. The lateral 

 row of scutes is not continued along the side of the tail as in 

 S. hardwickii, but passes upwards and merges into the 

 supero-lateral row, though, owing to the upper surface being 

 very convex, this is less conspicuous than in S. spinosissimus 

 and S. fasciatus. Scutes of the body with radiating lines of 

 well-developed spines, and each with a stronger flattened one 

 in the centre. On the anterior portion of the body and sides 

 these central spines are higher than broad and widely 

 separated, but before the dorsal on the mid-line they become 

 broader; on the tail, especially along the median superior and 

 inferior lines, they are much broader than high, and are 

 arranged so closely together as to form an almost continuous 

 keel. The whole head and space before the pectorals is 

 covered with uniform upstanding spines which are arranged 

 in radiating lines on the opercles. The last thirty tail rings 

 are prehensile and are provided with fleshy excrescences on 

 their inferior surfaces. 



Total length, 300 mm. One specimen from 37 fathoms off 

 Flinders Island, wSouth Australia, August 30th, 1909. 



This species is easily distinguished from the others by its 

 broad snout and very thick tail, and also by the form of the 

 scutes. The following is a key to the Australian species : — 



a. Lateral row of scutes extending along the sides of the 

 tail, not merging into the upper row. 



b. Scutes rugose but with scarcely any spines : — 



hardivickii. 



