368 Dr. A. Giintlier on Pachymetopon and PImelepterus. 



and tlie number of scales in the lateral line. But it should 

 be remembered that the type specimen of P. grande is 

 stuffed, and that the arrangement of the scales is not so regular 

 that the number of scales in the lateral line would correspond 

 to that of the transverse series above the line. The latter are 

 more numerous and were counted by me ; Steindacliner's 

 statement seems to refer to the former. Also difference in 

 size and age should be taken into consideration ; but Stein- 

 dachner has omitted to state the size of his specimen. 



A stuffed specimen in excellent condition, 30 inches long, 

 which we received from the New South Wales Court of the 

 Fisheries Exhibition in 1883 under the name of Pachymetopon 

 grande^ was of particular interest, as it led to the discovery 

 that the hshes which Australian ichthyologists introduced 

 into their lists as Pachymetopon are nothing but species of 

 Pimelefterus^ a genus wliich is entirely left out of their ich- 

 thyological fauna. Thus the specimen from the Sydney 

 Museum is a species closely allied to PImelepterus fuscus^ 

 from which, however, it may be distinguished by the larger 

 scales on the back (fewer longitudinal series — nine, instead of 

 eleven or twelve) and by the shorter horizontal roots of the 

 teeth. To this species, then, probably belongs the fish enume- 

 rated by Mr. Macleay under the name of Pachymetopon grande 

 (Cat. Austr. Fish. i. p. 106). Finally, the Pachymetopon 

 squamosum of the same author and Dr. AUeyne (Proc. Linn. 

 Soc. N. S. Wales, i. p. 275, pi. ix. fig. 1) is the common 

 PImelepterus cinerascens of Forskal or PImelepterus tahmel of 

 Riippeil, which ranges from the Red Sea, through the 

 Indian Ocean, into the Pacific, and the occurrence of which 

 on the coast of New Guinea has been already recorded by 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes (Hist. Nat. Poiss. vol. vii. p. 270). 



The diagnosis of the PImelepterus from Port Jackson is 

 as follows : — 



PImelepterus sydneyanus. 

 D. J-;. A. ,^. L. lat. 67. L. transv. ^*. 



The height of the body is nearly one third of the total 

 length (without caudal), the length of the head two ninths. 

 Width of the interorbital space but little less than one half of 

 the length of the head. The soft dorsal fin and anal are a little 

 lower than the spinous. Pectoral as long as the head without 

 snout. The horizontal root of the incisors is not much longer 

 than the vertical part. Coloration uniform. 



Port Jackson. 



* The formula given by Macleay for bis Fachymetopon is simply copied 

 from my descriptioa and transferred to tbe fish misnamed by bim. 



