52 ON NEW OR INSUFFICIENTLY DESCRIBED FISHES 



Salarias helence De Vis, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, ix^ 

 1884, p. 697 : St. Helena, Moreton Bay. 



Aspidontus dasson Jordan and Snyder, Proc. U.S. Nat. 

 Mus., x:xv, 1903, p. 456, fig. 8 : Wakanoura and Shima, 

 S. Japan. 



Aspidontus japonicus idd., ibid., p. 458. 



Petroskirtes AKOLius (Cuvier and Valenciennes). 



D. xii 17 or 18* ; A. i 20 or 21 ; C. 13 ; P. 13 ; V. 2. 

 Depth of body 4-85, length of head 4-66, longest dorsal 

 ray 2-8, length of anal fin 1-9, of caudal 4-65, of pectoral 

 4-6, of ventral 4-5 in length of body. Length of snout 

 3-75, diameter of eye 4, width of interorbit 8, longest anal 

 ray 2, depth of peduncle 2-65 in length of head. 



Head subvertical in front, its width 2, its depth 

 (without crest) 1-20 in its length ; no nasal nor orbital 

 tentacles ; an elevated rounded cutaneous crest extends 

 from before the upper border of the eye nearly to the 

 dorsal fin, its height equal to the eye-diameter ; cheeks 

 not swollen. Snout short and somewhat pointed ; jaws 

 subequal ; lower lip posteriorly lobate ; eyes small ; inter- 

 orbital region convex ; cleft of mouth extending to below 

 the posterior border of the eye. Dentition — I. f| ; C. f ;: 

 lower canines much the larger. Lateral line cm ved upward 

 anteriorly, consisting of from 8 to 10 tubes, and ceasing 

 below or before the last si)inous dorsal ray. 



Dorsal fin originating a little in advance of the base 

 of the pectoral, the spinous rays subequal in length, the 

 soft gradually increasing in length to the 6th ; 7th to 13th 

 rays produced and filamentous, about 4 times as long as 

 the last spinous ray ; membrane of last ray scarcely extend- 

 ing to the base of the caudal. Anal fin originating below 

 the 11th dorsal spine. Caudal rounded. Pectoral rounded, 

 the 9th ray longest. Ventral well developed, the inner 

 ray the longer. 



Gill- opening in front of and above the base of the 

 pectoral, its width about 6 in the head. 



* In his description of F. wilsoni Macleay gives the dorsal fin formula 

 as " 26 " {i.e. xii, 14) ; of the score or so of specimens which I have examined 

 from different localities none showed a greater variation than that given 

 above ; it would therefore be well for one of my Sjdaey co-workers to 

 i-ecount the dorsal rays in the type. 



