PISCES Zot 
the longest rays are slightly higher than the middle spines; 
the anal is placed a little further back than the soft dorsal but 
is otherwise similar: the length of the pectoral is half that of 
the head; the ventrals are composed each of four weak spines, 
of which the first measures one-fourth the diameter of the eye: 
the caudal is forked and the peduncle is compressed, its depth 
less than the diameter of the eye. 
Scales.—Cheeks opercles and body scaly, the scales small, the 
lateral line passes almost straight from above the opercle. near 
to the dorsal edge, to beneath the middle of the soft dorsal: 
beneath the base of the 5-6 dorsal spines it sends off a downward 
branch which descends suddenly to the mid line of the body, 
thence straight to beneath the origin of the soft dorsal; it then 
forms three waves, terminating in advance of the middle caudal 
rays. 
Colours.—Iridescent blue above, silvery beneath; a deep black 
blotch on the dorsal between the 1-111 spines, and the fin narrowly 
edged with black: soft dorsal, anal and caudal orange. 
Length—514 mm, the largest example preserved measures 
711 mm. 
Though taken generally between the extreme limits of the 
operations, this species was not obtained at Stations between 
Lyttelton and southward of Cape Kidnappers. It occurred at 
all depths between 9 and 105 fathoms. At Station 88 five young 
of the same species were taken from the stomach of one indi- 
vidual. Many of the Stations yielded specimens under twelve 
inches in length. Squid was generally found in the stomach. 
As will be gathered from the introduction, I had regarded 
this fish as Promethichthys prometheus, probably because that 
species appears in the New Zealand list, but an examination for 
record purposes shows it to be quite different. It is alhed to 
the three species before mentioned, and may indeed prove to be 
identical with one or more of them; it may not be distinct from 
R. micropus, but MeCoy describes that form as having six dorsal 
and four anal finlets, and he had ample opportunities of veri- 
fying this feature, for he states that it is taken in great 
quantities from Tasmania to the Melbourne fish shops. The 
popular name is Tasmanian kingfish: and it may be noted that 
kingfish in the name applied to our form in the South Island. 
Passing by minor differences Alcock describes R. bengalensis as 
having a thick scaleless silvery skin; the scales of R. furcifera 
though small are quite apparent, but one is tempted to ask 
if the nudity of the Indian specimens may not be due to 
immaturity, the examples, of only 514 inches in length being in 
all probability, very young. I am not aware of the condition 
EF 
