412 



FISHES. 



twenty -five lbs.), and are easily caught in numbers. At 

 the Cape of Good Hope they are very abundant, and pre- 

 served in large quantities for export. 



Mcndosoma from the coast of Chili, and Ncmadadylus 

 from Tasmania, are allied genera. 



Latris. — Dorsal fin deeply notched ; the spinous portion with 

 seventeen spines ; anal fin many-rayed. None of the simple 

 pectoral rays passes the margin of the fin. Teeth villiform ; no 

 canines. Prseoperculum minutely serrated. Scales small. 



Two species only are known from Tasmania and New 

 Zealand, which belong to the most important food-fishes of 

 the Southern Hemisphere. Latris hecateia or the " Trumpeter," 

 ranges from sixty to thirty lbs. in weight, and is con- 

 sidered by the colonists the best flavoured of any of the fishes 

 of South Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and con- 

 sumed smoked as well as fresh. The second species, Latris 

 ciliaris, is smaller, scarcely attaining a weight of twenty 

 lbs., but more abundant ; it is confined to the coast of 

 New Zealand. 



Seventh Family — Scokp/Enid^. 

 Body oblong, more or less compressed, covered with ordinary 

 scales, or naked. Cleft of the moidli lateral or suhvertical. 



Dentition feeble, con- 

 sisting of villiform 

 teeth; and generally 

 withoid canines. Some 

 hones of the head 

 armed, esiiecially tlie 

 angle of the 'prctio'per- 

 culum, its armature 

 Fig. 178.— Skull of Sco'iycma pcrcoidcs ; so, Sub- receiving additional 



orbital ring ; jtr, Prieoperculum ; st, Bony stay, support by a bony stay, 

 connecting the .suborbital with the prreoperculum. . . • 7 ,7 



connecting u vntli the 

 infraorbital ring. The sjnnons p)ortion of the dorsal fin equally 



