276 Sir J. Richardson on Australian Fish. 



the palate-bones, and the tongue, which is not in the least free at the 

 tip, appears to be quite smooth. The premaxillaries are but slightly 

 protractile, the tips of their pedicles when retracted not reaching half- 

 way to the ej^e. The maxillaries have a protuberance in the centre 

 of their lower dilated ends, and only their more slender upper halves 

 glide under the preorbitar. When the head is viewed in front, two 

 short parallel ridges are seen covering the pedicles of the premaxil- 

 laries, above which, on the forehead, there is a deep oblong depression 

 bounded by an elevated bony ridge, from which a side ridge formed 

 by the prefrontals proceeds to each orbit. The margins of the orbits 

 themselves are elevated and uneven, and there is a prominent bend 

 upwards on the edge of each postfrontal bone ; the rest of the top of 

 the head is occupied by the front rays of the dorsal fin. The preorbitar 

 sends one obtuse ridge forwards over the middle of the maxillary, and 

 another and a larger one backwards in the situation of the spine of an 

 Apistes ; this one is knobbed at the end and curved upwards. The 

 suborbitar chain is elevated and very uneven throughout, particularly 

 the ridge which traverses the cheek to the hollow of the preopercu- 

 lum. There is a blunt process from the angle of the latter bone, 

 representing the spine common in this family, and three smaller 

 knobs below it, the edge of the bone being also raised in a slighter 

 degree. Two slightly diverging ridges, ending bluntly, cross the 

 operculum ; there is a small blunt point on the interoperculum, and 

 four obtuse eminences between the eye and shoulder, representing the 

 two ridges shown in that part in the Scorpance. The parts between 

 the bony eminences on the head are covered with small spines like 

 those of the body, and the whole, in the recent state, seems to have 

 been enveloped in soft skin, which in the dried specimen has left 

 traces of a short skinny fringe on the lower jaw and of filamentous 

 points elsewhere. There are several open pores on the limbs of the 

 mandible. The gill-membrane is smooth and is sustained by five curved 

 rays. The gill-openings are closed above the gill-plate, but extend 

 from the point of the operculum downwards and forwards to opposite 

 the articulation of the mandible, being sufficiently ample. 



The whole skin of the body and the lower parts of all the fins are 

 studded with straight acute spines, each enveloped in a skinny sheath. 

 The lateral line is nearly straight, having merely a slight rise over the 

 pectoral. It is marked by a smooth furrow and a series of ten or 

 twelve skinny processes. 



The dorsal extends from between the eyes the whole length of the 

 back, but is not actually connected to the caudal fin. It is highest 

 anteriorly, lowest over the pectoral, and of medium height and nearly 

 even posteriorly, its end being rounded off. The second spine, which 

 stands over the middle of the orbit, is the tallest, its height beuig but 

 a little less than that of the head ; the first and third rays are only a 

 little shorter, while the fifth and sixth are much lower, producing a 

 deep notch in the fin. The eighth and following spines are very 

 slightly graduated, and from thence to its rounded extremity the 

 outline of the fin is even. The membrane is notched between the 

 rays, and the tips of the jointed rays curve backwards. The first 



