6 ON NEW OR INSUFFICIENTLY DESCRIBED FISHES 



of equal size, acicular and biserial, forming a long narro\\^ 

 \band ; hyoid bones with two series of strong teeth ; a 

 multiserial patch anteriorly on the tongue. Nostrils well 

 separated, the anterior circular and cirrigerous, the posterior 

 an oblique slit below the level of the anterior. Eye rather 

 small, the adipose lid rudimentary. Doisal fin inserted 

 midway between the tip of the snout and the root of the 

 caudal ; no adipose fin ; anal fin similar to but longer than- 

 the dorsal ; pectorals small and rounded ; ventrals 8-rayed. 

 Vent much nearer to the ventral than to the anal. Other- 

 wise as in Saurida. 



Coast of North Queensland (Dunk Island). 



Xystodus banfieldi sp. nov. 



D. 11 ; A. 14; P. 13 ; Sc. 51-13. Depth of body 7-2, 

 length of head 3-6, of caudal fin 5-5 in length of body. 

 Length of snout 4-25, diameter of eye 6-8, width of inter- 

 orbit 8-5, cleft of mouth 1-6, height of dorsal 1-9, length 

 of pectoral 2-25, of ventral 1-1 in length of head. 



Body slender, a little wider than deep. Frontal groove 

 smooth in front, profusely pierced by small pores behind, 

 continuous with the occipital groove. Diameter of eye 

 1 -6 in the length of the snout ; adipose lid vestigial ; inter- 

 orbital region concave, its width 1-25 in the eye -diameter.. 



Dorsal fin nearly as high as long, the tip of the longest 

 ray, when depressed, baiely reaching to the base of the 

 last. Anal fin originating midway between the root of 

 the caudal and the origin of the ventral, about thrice as 

 long as high, and one-fourth longer than the dorsal. Middle 

 caudal rays 2-5 in the lower lobe ; caudal peduncle as deep 

 as wide, without trace of Ir.teral ridge. Pectoral fin extends 

 to above the end of the base of the ventral, which is inserted 

 a little nearer to the anal than to the tip of the mandible 

 and well in advance of the dorsal, the 6th ray longest,, 

 not reaching to the vent. 



Lilac, each scale of the back with a dark median 

 stripe, which is often forked distally and form together 

 narrow longitudinal pencillings, of which there are about 

 nine ; a purplish lateral ba,nd about half a scale wide from 

 the upper part of the opercle to the root of the caudal, 

 dividing the lilac of the back from the yellowish white 

 of the lower half of the body ; anteriorly, to above the 

 pectoral the band is black, and from its lower edge it throws 



