176 MEMUIL'S OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



to announce the presence in the British Museum of specimens from Saraoa^ 

 through the Rev. S. J. Whitmee, Mysol, and the Pelew Islands, the latter through 

 the agency of the Godeft'roy Museum. He was at the same time responsible for 

 the suggestion that this species was possibly identical with Acanthurus velifer 

 Bloch. This I am unable to accept as, for one thing, the color scheme of Z. 

 hypscJoptcrum is not only quite distinct from that of Z. vdiferum, but is constant 

 at all ages, as may be seen from the descriptions of Bleeker's small and my large 

 examples. "We next hear of it from the Queensland Coast^^ whence de Vis 

 described a young example, about 63 millim. long, as Nascus stn'gatus. The only 

 other record of which I have any cognizance is that of Steindachner, which I 

 only know from the notice in the Zoological Record,^- where no locality is given. 



Uses: — I have no available data as to the value of this species as a foodfish, 

 but Valenciennes, writing of the allied Z. flavescens as Acanthurus scopas, 

 remarks, on the authority of Valentyn, that "its flesh is of excellent flavor," 

 while, referring to the same fish under the name A. altivelis, he makes the 

 curious statement that when ''dried and cooked on a gridiron its flavor some- 

 what resembles that of mutton cutlets." 



Range: — From the Austro-Malayan Islands of Flores and Mysol north- 

 ward to the Pelew Group and eastward to the Coast of Queensland, Raine Island, 

 B.R., and Samoa. 



Dimensions : — To at least 300 millim. 



Illustration: — Our figure is taken from the smaller Raine Island example. 



Beg. No. in the Queensland Museum — I. 14/1713. 



Family TEUTHIDID.?:. 



Siganidce Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., vii. 188 1, p. 279 ; Jordan & Fowler, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 



XXV, 1903, p. 560. 

 Tetithidiclce Giinther, Brit. Mas. Catal. Fish., iii, 1861. p. 313. 



THE SPINEFEET. 



Teeth in the jaAvs incisiform. Nostrils well separate, opening about mid- 

 way between the eye and the extremity of the snout ; no preocular groove. Soft 

 dorsal much shorter than the spinous. Air-bladder bifurcate both in front and 

 behind. No subocular shelf. Posttemporals forked. Vertebrae 23 (10+13) ; 

 ribs sessile ; parapophyses absent, the epipleurals inserted directly on the ribs. 



Plerbivorous fishes of small or moderate size from the Indian and "Western 

 Pacific Oceans. They are of fair quality for the table, but like their relatives, 

 tbe Surgeon Fishes, should be handled with extreme caution, since they are 

 able to inflict deep wounds with their many and strong fin-spines ; these wounds 

 are said to be exceedingly painful, so much so that they are much dreaded by 

 the fishermen of our coasts. They are very generally known as '' Butterfishes" 

 on account of their smooth slippery bodies, but as they share that name with 

 several very distinct species, it has been thought better to substitute a more 

 distinctive appellation. Two genera and about 35 species are recognised. 



11 In my " Ichthyological Notes" of last year (Mem. Queensl. Mus., iii, p. 13.5) I stated 

 that my record was " an addition to the Australian fauna." Further research has shown this 

 to be incorrect, the late Mr. dc Vis' announcement antedating mine by more than 30 years. 



12 Vol. xxxix, 1902, Pisces 29. 



