288 Sir J. Richardson on Australian Fish. 



CossYPHus GOULDii, Ricliardsoii. 



Labrus gouldii, Rich. Ann. ^- Mag. Nat. Hist. xi. p. 353. 



Cossyphus, vel Lachnolaimus gouldii. Idem, Ichth. of Foy. of 

 Erebus and Terror, p. 132. 



Radii.— D.n\\0 yd \\; A. 3|10 vel 11 ; C. 14f ; P.17vell6; 

 V. 1|5, spec. 



Mr. Neill's collection contains a young specimen of this fish, which 

 was previously known to me only by an example of considerably 

 greater size, brought from Western Australia by ]SIr. Gould. Neither 

 specimen retained the pharyngeal bones, and I still remain in doubt 

 as to which of the dismemberments of the Linnaean genus Labrus it 

 ought to be referred. 



It has the general form of Labrus, with the scaly dorsal and anal 

 sheaths of Cossyphus, and a peculiarity in the verj' compressed form 

 of the spinous rays which I have not as yet seen in any other La- 

 broid. It has the four anterior canines in each jaw which exist in 

 some Cossyphi, and on the mandibles these canines are inclined for- 

 ward Uke the corresponding teeth in Anampses. There are no ca- 

 nines at the angle of the mouth. The lateral teeth are incorporated 

 with the bone, and are small and uniform, not decreasing in succes- 

 sion, as in the Labri. In the young specimen the bone of both jaws 

 is thin, and the forms of the lateral teeth are distinctly seen, cemented 

 laterally to each other, with a few very minute granular teeth scattered 

 on the interior surface of the bones ; but in the older specimen the 

 premaxillaries have swollen behind the canines and acquired a smooth 

 surface by friction, and the edges of the jaws having worn down the 

 forms of the teeth composing them, are obscured — their rounded 

 points alone being visible. On the other hand the granular teeth on 

 the sides of the jaws have become more conspicuous in consequence 

 of their growth. 



The cleft of the mouth is small, not exceeding the diameter of 

 the eye. The length of the preorbitar is greater. The latter bone 

 and the suborbitar chain, with the lower jaw and top of the head, 

 are scaleless. The edge of the preoperculum is quite smooth, and its 

 disk appears to be scaleless, but there are nine rows of small scales 

 on the cheek, and the other gill-pieces are scaly, those on the oper- 

 culum and suboperculum being larger than the rest. The uncovered 

 disks of the scales of the body are rough, with small round points, 

 the edges being thm, membranous, and striated or wrinkled. The 

 descending curve of the lateral line under the soft dorsal is the gra- 

 dual one of a Cossyphus, not the more sudden deflection of a Labrus. 

 Each of the scales composing it has a loose arbuscle of sparingly 

 branched tubes. 



The dorsal spines are strong and comparatively short, and the an- 

 terior ones are compressed so as to render their front edges acute. 

 The compression diminishes in the posterior spines, and the last and 

 tallest one is subulate, grooved and pointed. The foremost two anal 

 sj)ines are even more conspicuously compressed, and the third one is 

 subulate. The ventrals are rounded, and have a compressed spine 

 which stands under the second and third dorsal spines and base of the 

 pectoral — being farther forward than in Cossyphus indpimis. 



