SOME AUSTRALIAN FISH-SCALES.— COCKERELL. 57 



MONACANTHID^. 



Cantherines trachylepis Gthr. Moreton Bay. The thick skin is minutely 

 pigment-dotted, and ovit of it arise, at regular intervals, the rows of five (rarely four) 

 sharp short spines representing the scales. The scales are expanded beneath the 

 skin, the concealed portion consisting of coarse fibrillse, which give it a striated appear- 

 ance. These scales are not like those of Monacanthus or Ceratacanthus ; they are 

 rather more suggestive of Balistes. 



•»o^ 



SCORP^NID^. 



Apistus macrolepidotus Ogilby. Hervey Bay. Scales elongate, 3 to 4 mm. 

 long, 1-75 to 2-25 mm. broad ; sides approximately parallel ; nucleus far above middle ; 

 circuli dense ; basal radii about 10 to 12, strong ; basal margin scalloped ; apical 

 margin with immense irregular teeth, supj)orted by median slender ribs, these teeth 

 four to eight, or occasionally only three, one sometimes larger than the others. This 

 is a very unicpie and remarkable scale, remotely approaching Sebastes. 



I take the opportunity to note that Pterois lunulata Schleg., from Misaki, Japan 

 (Stanford University), has short scales, about as broad as long, of the same type as 

 those of Scorpcena plumieri Bl., but whereas in the Scorpcena there are rudimentary 

 denticles, in the Pterois the scale is strictly cycloid, with the transverse apical circuli 

 zigzag or strongly wavy. 



DACTYLOPTERIDiE (CEPHALACANTHID^). 



Ebisinus procne Ogilby. Moreton Bay. These scales have a sharp central 

 keel and a dentate margin, entirely in the manner of Cephalacanthus volitans. The 

 marginal teeth number about ten. 



PTEROPSARID^. 



Parapercis nebulosa Quoy & Gaim. Moreton Bay. Scales like those of 

 P. cylindrica, but considerably longer. 



SOLEID.E. 



Brachirus niger Macleay. Moreton Bay. Scales greatly elongated (about 

 4-25 mm. long and 1-50 broad), paraUel-sided, nucleus far above the middle, basal 

 radii about 6 to 10 ; apical teeth about 8 to 12, long and sharp. These scales are from 

 the pigmented side of the fish. The ctenoid elements are quite as in Solea, with the 

 same characteristic submarginal structures (see fig. 49, BuU. U.S. Bur. Fish, xxxii, 

 p. 172). 



