144 MEMOlTiS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



Uses: — Lacepede, writing of the allied F. marmoratus, states on the 

 authority of Commergon that "the flavor of its flesh is excellent," and from 

 a single personal experience I can similarly affirm that the southern P. hedleyi 

 is equally delicious. The mouth is too small to admit of its taking an 

 ordinary hook, and it could only be taken in sufficient numbers for the table 

 by the use of small otter trawls in water of not more than 7 or 8 fathoms. That 

 it is almost wholly a fish of the litoral zone is borne out by the failure of the 

 "Endeavour" to trawi even a single example on the Queensland coast. 



Bangc: — From the shores of Northern Queensland westward through the 

 Malay Archipelago to the Andamans and Pinang, and thence northward along 

 the coast of China to the Riu Kiu Islands; northward and eastward from our 

 shores it has been recorded from the New Hebrides {Jordan tO Scale), New 

 Britain, Solomons, and Tonga {Gilnther), and Samoa (Weher). On the Queens- 

 land coast it is known from Capes Grenville and York, N.Q. {Alleyne & 

 Macleay) ; Raine Island, B.R. (Ogilby) ; and Darnley Island (Tosh Coll.). 

 Turning westward we find it recorded from the Aru Islands, Ceram, Batchian, 

 Celebes, Madura, Java, Banca, Singapore, Nias, and Sumatra (Bleeker) ■ Ternate 

 (Steindachner) ; Bacon, P.I. {Evcrmann & Seale) ; Pulo Pinang (Cantor) ; 

 Andaman Islands (Day) ; China Sea (Bleeker) ; and Okinawe (Snyder). 



Dimensions: — The largest of which I can find any record measures 209 

 millim., and is the Raine Island example — I. 15/2491 — which Miss Phyllis Clark 

 has so beautifully illustrated. 



PARDACHIRUS HEDLEYI sp. nov. 



(Plate XVII.) 



Pardachirus pavoninus Castelnau, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wale?, iii, 1879, pp. 35.5, 362 ; Macleay,. 



Proe. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, vii, 1882, p. 13. Not of Gunther 1862. 

 Achirus pavoninus Ogilby, Catal. Fish. N. S. Wales, 1886, p. 49 ; Waite, Synops. Fish. N. S. 



Wales, 1904, p. 44 ; Stead, Edib. Fish. N. S. Wales, 1908, p. 106. Not of Lacepede 1802. 

 ? Pardachirus pavoninus Kendall & Goldsborough, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., xxvi, 1911, p. 332. 



Type locality: — Port Jackson, N.S.W. 



Body ovate, its depth 2-3 to 2-55 in its length," that of the caudal 

 peduncle 3-5 to 3-65 in the body-depth. Head about one fifth deeper than 

 long, its length 4-6 to 5 in that of the body. Snout short, its tip slightly below 

 the level of the lower eye, its length from that eye 3 to 3-5 in that of the 

 head. Cleft of mouth extending to below the middle of the lower eye or not 

 quite so far. Eyes equal, the diameter 6-2 to 6-67 in the length of the head. 

 Width of gill-opening 1-45 to 1-6 in the same. 



Scales of both sides terminating in an ovate spinulose patch, the margin 

 of which is armed with about 8 longer and stronger teeth, in 82 to 90 transverse 

 series, immediately above the lateral line. Only the basal third of the vertical 

 fins is scaly, and the basiradial pore opens on the inner edge of the naked portion.^'' 

 Lateral line with an inconspicuous curve in the pectoral region, continued to the 



^* One example (I. 15/2491) is exceptionally short and deep, its depth being 2-15 in its 

 length. 



" Gunther, in his diagnosis of the genus, writes — -" Dorsal and anal rays scaly." How- 

 ever this may be with P. marmoratus, it is certainly incorrect a^ regards P. pavoninus and 

 P. hedleyi. 



