274.' Sir J. Kichardson on Australian Fish. 



valuable on account of the notices it contains of tlie habits and qua- 

 lities of the fish. The drawings are so characteristic, that most of 

 the species are easily recognised, but some novel forms could not be 

 systematically described without specimens, aiid the opportunity now 

 afforded me by Mr. Gray of inspecting a number of dried skins pre- 

 pared on the spot by Mr. Neill, has given occasion to the present 

 paper. 



Apistes panduratus, Richardson. 



Radii.— 5. 7 ; D. i;|7 ; A. 3|6 ; C. 12f ; P. 14 ; V. 1|5, spec. 



Among the various forms that the genus Apistes presents, the 

 present one is remarkable for the elevation of the orbit, which rises 

 in a semicircular protuberance, so high above the occiput as to give 

 the hinder part of the head a relative depression like a Turkish saddle, 

 and to render the snout and forehead almost vertical. 



The mouth is terminal and small, and both jaws, with the chevron 

 of the vomer and a round patch on each palatine bone, are furnished 

 with minute, short villiform teeth. The intermaxillaries are mode- 

 rately protractile, and the maxillary, whose dilated lower end drops 

 below the corner of the mouth, has its posterior edge turned out- 

 wards producing a ridge. The nasal spines are thick, but acute, and 

 are bent to the curve of the forehead. There is a narrow deep groove 

 between them. This groove widens on the top of the head, where it is 

 bounded by smooth ridges continued from the nasal spines, and in con- 

 junction with them the raised edges of the orbits form an exterior fur- 

 row on each side. These four furrows and ridges end in obtuse emi- 

 nences which cross from the superior-posterior angle of one orbit to the 

 other. Behind them the skull sinks perpendicularly to the level of 

 the nearly flat, depressed occiput, on which however the middle ridges 

 are still visible. The preorbitar is small, very uneven, and emits a 

 strong spine whose acute point reaches back to the middle of the orbit. 

 The second suborbitar in crossing the cheek to the hollow of the 

 preoperculum forms a stout ridge of oblique, somewhat twisted and 

 striated eminences, none of them spinous. The preoperculum has a 

 smooth vertical upper limb, which shows as a narrow, slightly ele- 

 vated ridge. At its curve or angle there is a strong spine, longer 

 than the preorbitar one, but not reaching quite to the gill-opening. 

 A short thick spine is adnate to its base above, and a little way below 

 it there is an acute sjnne half as long, which is followed by three 

 other angular or spinous points on the lower limb of the bone. Two 

 prominent but smooth ridges exist on the gill-plate without any spi- 

 nous points. On the suprascapular region there are two ridges, the 

 upper one having three thick, striated eminences with acute points, 

 and the lower one has two such eminences, with two small points 

 more posteriorly. 



There are no scales on any part of the head, and there is a smooth 

 space along the base of the dorsal, which is widest towards the shoul- 

 der ; the space between the ventrals and the breast anterior to them, 

 with the base of the pectorals and their axils, are scaleless ; the rest 

 of the body, including the belly and integuments adjoining the anal. 



