Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Reptiles and Fishes. 65 



This is the smallest species of Atherina known at present, 

 the single specimen, an adult male, being only 1^ inch long. 

 Probably the female and young are without the prolongations 

 of the fins. 



63. Nematocentris nigra. 



Atherina nigrans, Richards. ■> 



Atherinichthys nigrmis, Gthr. 



Nematocentris splendida, Peters, Monatsber. Ak. Wiss. Berlin, 1866, 



July 23, p. 516 (published in 1866). 

 Strabo nigrofasciatus, Kner und Steindachner, Sitzgsber. Ak. Wiss. 



Wien, 1866, Oct. 4, p. 372. fig. 10 (immature example) (published in 



1867). 



Of this species, which was formerly represented in the British 

 Museum by some skins in a more or less bad state of preserva- 

 tion, we possess now a fine and complete series, viz. : — 



a. A skin, 3 inches long, from King's River, near Victoria, 

 which is the type of the species. (Not from Port Essington as 

 stated by Sir J. Richardson.) 



b. A skin, 3 inches long, from Port Essington. 



c-e. Three skins, 21 lines long, from Severn River, New 

 South Wales. 



/-/. Six examples, in spirits, 3-5 inches long, from Rock- 

 ham pton (Krefft). [Nematocentris splendida, Ptrs.] 



m-n. Two examples in spirits, 18-24 lines long, from Cla- 

 rence River (Krefft, 67). 



0. One example in spirits, 20 lines long, from Brisbane. 

 [Godeffroy Coll., Strabo nigrofasciatus.'\ 



p. One example, in spirits, 4 inches long, from Port Denison 

 (Krem). 



q-t. Four examples in spirits, 3 inches long, from Cape York 

 (Damel). 



I have convinced myself, from an examination of these speci- 

 mens, that the names lately proposed and mentioned above 

 refer to the same species, which appears to be spread over the 

 whole of Australia. The black band, so distinct in the typical 

 example, is paler in specimens from Port Denison and Rock- 

 ham pton, replaced by a bluish band in other examples from 

 Rockhampton and other parts of Queensland and New South 

 Wales, and disappears sometimes entirely in apparently very old 

 examples. The form of the body varies, of course, according to 

 age and season. The pungent dorsal spines become stouter 

 with age, and some of the rays become produced. The number 

 of longitudinal series of scales varies from ten to thirteen, the 



lowest being more or less developed. D. 5 | j;o:ri2* ^' iis^Ur 

 Ann. fif Mag. N, Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. xx. 5 



