28 EDIBLE riSHES OF NEW SOUTH AVALES. 



T. quadrilineatus has a -nide range, beiug fouud in all the seas of conti- 

 nental Australia except the extreme southern seaboard, ranging on the east 

 coast at least as far south as Botany, where it is common ; it is also present 

 in all the seas of New Guinea and the Malay Archipelago, as well as of 

 India and China. 



The ordinary size of market specimens is from six to nine inches, but 

 larger examples occasionally occur. 



TIIEKAPOX ELLIPTICUS. 



Datnin cUiptica. Eichards. Yoy. Erebus & Terror, Fish. p. IIS, pi. Hi. 



ff. 4-8, 1S40. 

 Tlierapon eUipticus, Gnth. Catal. Fish. i. p. 27G ; IMacleay, Catal. Austr. 



Fish. i. p. 03. 

 Thcrapon richardsonii, Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Yict. 1872, i. p. GO ; Macleay, 



Catal. Austr. Fish. i. p. 6i ; Woods, Fisher. N. S. Wales, p. 104. 

 Therapon niger, Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Yict. i. p. o9 ; Macleay, Catal. 



Austr. Fish. i. p. 65. 

 Therapon macleayanus, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. X. S. Wales, vi. p. 831. 



Silver Percli. 



Plate YI. 



B. vi. D. 1211-12. A. 3/7-S. Y. I'o. P. 17. C. 17. L. lat. 55-60. L. tr. 



17/31-34. 



Length of head 400-4-33, of caudal fin 515-5-o0, height of body 3-66-4-25 

 in the total length. Diameter of eye 3"50-4'50 in the length of the head, 

 1'00-1'40 in that of the snout, which is moderately pointed, and subequal 

 to the width of the slightly convex interorbital space. Nostrils moderately 

 close together, the anterior rounded, tubular, and directed forwards ; the 

 posterior oval and vertical. Occiput slightly concave. Upper jaw the 

 longer. Cleft of mouth small, transverse, and horizontal ; the maxilla reaches 

 to the posterior nostril. Preorbital finely serrated : preopercle serrated, 

 the denticulations on the angle and vertical limb coarser than those on the 

 horizontal limb ; the vertical limb slightly concave : opercle with two spines, 

 the lower the larger and frequently split up into two or more points : post- 

 temporal and clavicle coarsely denticulated. Teeth in the jaws villiform, 

 with an enlarged outer row. The dorsal fin commences above the base of 

 the pectoral, and ends a little behind the anal ; the spines are strong, the 

 fifth or sixth the highest, a little higher than the rays, from l"70-2'00 in the 

 length of the head ; the last spine is about two thirds of the longest spine 

 and three fourths of the fii'st ray : the base of the rayed dorsal is from 

 1'40-1'60 in that of the spinous : the anal commences beneath the second 

 dorsal ray, the second spine is very strong, equal to or rather higher than 

 the rays, and from 1"5()-1'75 in the length of the head : ventrals well 

 developed, not quite reaching to the vent, the second ray the longest and with 

 a slight filamentary appendage, its length from 1*25-1'40 in that of the 

 head ; the spine is strong equal in length to the last dorsal spine : pectoral 

 rather short, rounded posteriorly, from 1'50-1'75 in the length of the 

 head : caudal emarginate, the least height of the pedicle one third of the 

 height of the body. Scales ctenid: snout, preorbital, interorbital space, and 

 the outer edges of the preopercle naked : dorsal and anal fins wdth a basal 

 scaly sheath. The lateral line follows the dorsal curvature ; it has fifty five 

 to sixty tubular scales, and there are from eighty five to ninety series of 

 scales above it between its inception and the base of the caudal. 



