18 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 



conceals the lower bordei' of the rather large maxillary, the 

 upper and hinder borders of which are exposed. Jaws with 

 interrupted bands of villiform teeth ; no outer series of enlarged 

 teeth ; villiform teeth on the vomer and palatines. Nostrils 

 large, patent, well separated, tubular, without tentacles. Eye 

 rather large, anterior, sublateral, high ; interorbital region 

 concave, without tentacles. Cranial ridges rather feeble, with 

 or without a small terminal spine ; coracoid process with a 

 strong spine ; no suprascapular spine. Preorbital with three 

 spines, the tips of which are exposed ; the anterior short, stout, 

 somewhat curved, directed downwards and backwards ; the 

 posterior longer, strong, acute, and thorn-like, not nearly 

 reaching to the end of the maxillary, and but moderately 

 erectile, the membranous attachment to the base of the 

 suborbital stay being wide ; the median spine when present rises 

 above the base of the last and is directed upwards. Preopercle 

 with five spines, the upper the longest, with exposed tip ; 

 interopercles in contact ; subopercle with a small spine ; opercles 

 with a well developed lobe and two divergent ridges, each of 

 which terminates in a strong spine, the surface conspicuously 

 carinated above the lower ridge. Gills four, a cleft behind the 

 fourth ; seven branchiostegals ; gill-rakers short and stout, 

 mostly tubercular. Upper pharyngeal bones elongate-pyriform, 

 separate, forming a continuous patch ; lower approximate, each 

 patch split up into four distinct sections, which are as distant 

 from one another as they are from those of the opposite side ; 

 all are armed with short stout conical teeth. Soft dorsal and 

 anal fins with a partially scaly base, the last ray in each divided 

 to the base. Dorsal fin originating above the upper preopercular 

 spine, evenly rounded in front, emarginate behind, with xv 9 or 

 10 rays, the spines of moderate strength and pungent ; spinous 

 portion of fin more than thrice as long as the soft ; interspinous 

 membrane moderately cleft anteriorly ; last ray partially attached 

 to the peduncle. Anal fin with iii 5 rays ; spines strong, the 

 third as long as or a little longer than the second ; last ray 

 nearly free. Caudal fin rounded. Pectoral fins well developed, 

 rounded, symmetrical, undivided ; each with 12 rays, the middle 

 the longest ; none of the lower rays simple. Ventral fins moder- 

 ate, approximate, inserted behind the base of the pectorals ; each 

 with i 5 rays, the spine strong and rather long ; second soft ray 

 longest, the last narrowly attached to the wall of the abdomen. 

 Air bladder large and simple, with thick walls. Pyloric Cfeca in 



