REVISION OF AUSTRALIAN TEERAPONS.—OGILBY AND McCULLOCH. 99 



A REVISION OF THE AUSTRALIAN THERAPONS 

 WITH NOTES ON SOME PAPUAN SPECIES. 



By J. Douglas Ogilby and Allan R. McCulloch. 

 (Plates X to XIII and One Text -figure.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



The very confused literature relating to the Australian species of the genus 

 Therapon and their allies has been the cause of considerable difficulty in their identi- 

 fication. Many closely related forms, which were insufficiently described by their 

 authors, have hitherto remained almost unknown, and their rediscovery, without 

 reference to the types, has been almost or quite im})ossible. We are fortunate, therefore, 

 in having access to the large series of specimens included in the collections of the 

 Queensland Museum, the Austrahan Museum, and the Macleay Museum at the 

 University of Sydney, where are preserved most of the tjqjcs of the several species 

 briefly defined by Count Castelnau, Sir WiUiam Macleay, and Mr. C. W. de Vis. These 

 we have examined and redescribed in detail when necessary, and have effected con- 

 siderable changes in their synonymy. Figures are given of all those species of which 

 no reliable illustrations have been pubhshed, while the better-known forms are shortly 

 defined for their easy recognition. 



We wish to acknowledge here the invaluable assistance afforded us by Dr. 

 Thomas L. Bancroft, of Eidsvold on the Burnett River, Queensland, who has spared no 

 pains to secure beautifully preserved material for us from various locahties. Without 

 his help, much of the matter dealt with in the follawing pages would have remained 

 unknown. We are also indebted to Mr. EUis Troughton and Mr. Frank McNeil, of the 

 Austrahan Museum, for much patient help in counting the scales of large series of 

 specimens, and other assistance. 



THERAPON Cuvier. 



Terapon Cuvier, Regne Ajiim., ed. 1, ii, 1817, p. 295 {Holocentrus servus Bloch). Lapsus calami for 



Therapon. 

 Therapon Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iii, 1829, p. 125; Giinther, Brit. Mus. Catal. 



Fish., 1, 1859, p. 274 ; Dav, Fish. India, pt. i, 1875, p. 68 ; Bleeker, Atlas Ichth., vii, 1876, 



p. 110 ; Ogilby, Edib. Fish. N. S. Wales, 1893, p. 26; Jordan & Thompson, Proc. U. S. 



Nat. Mus., xh, 1912, p. 535. 

 Datnia Cuvier & Valenciennes, ibid., p. 138 (D. argentea Cuv. & Val.). 

 Pterapon Gray, in Hardwicke, lUustr. Ind. Zool., 1832. Nomen emend. 

 Mesopristes Bleekf r, Arch. N*^* rl. Sci. Nat., xi, 1876, p. 267 {M. macracanthus Blkr. = T. argenteus 



C. & V.) ; id., Atlas Ichth., vii, 1876, p. Uu. 

 Autisthes de Vis, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, ix, pt. 2, 19 Aug. 1884, p. 398 (.4. argenteus, de Vis 



= T.putaCuv.& Val.). 

 Eutherapon Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1904, p. 527 {T. theraps Cuv. & Val.). 



Body ovate to elhptical, more or less compressed. Scales small or moderate, 

 adherent, finely ctenoid. Lateral fine continuous, extending on the base of the caudal, 



