38 EDIBLE EISHES OF 'SEW SOUTH WALES. 



of great beauty, easy digestion, and excellent flavor, but after death it soon 

 becomes soft and strong tasted"; Cantor states that at Pcnang " it is eaten 

 by the natives, though many reject it on account of its reputed disgusting 

 habits"; while Bennett remarks that in Ceylon "it is generally esteemed, 

 its flesh partaking of the flavor of trout." 



"With such conflicting testimony as to the edible value of these fishes it is 

 diflacult to arrive at a just conclusion, but the probability is that examples 

 captured in the open sea are wholesome and of good flavor when consumed 

 fresh. 



The Butterfish is plentiful on all the shores of Australia from King 

 George's Sound, round West and North Australia, and extending its range 

 southwards along the eastern coast at least as far as the latitude of 

 Sydney ; they have not been recorded from Victorian or Tasmanian waters. 



Specimens measuring as much as sixteen inches are oc;casionally seen in 

 the Sydney market, but the aA"erage length is about eight inches. The 

 greater number of these fishes consigned to the market come, from Lake 

 Macquarie. 



Genus II.— SCORPIS. 



Scorpis, Cuv. & A'al. Hist. Xat. Poiss. viii. p. 245, 1531. 



Brauchiostegals seven: pseudo branchiae present. Body oblong-ovate 

 and compressed. Snout of moderate length. Preopercle more or less finely 

 serrated. Jaws with an outer series of enlarged teeth : teeth present on the 

 vomer and palatines. One dorsal, with nine or ten spines : the anal with 

 three. Scales small : soft portions of the vertical fins scaly, the spinous 

 portions with a basal scaly sheath. Airbladder present. Pyloric appendages 

 in very large numbers. 



Geographical distribution. — Coasts of Australia, New Zealand, and Chili ; 

 Juan i'ernandez. 



SCOEPIS .^QUIPINNIS. 



Scorpis ccquipinnis, Eichards. Yoy. Erebus & Terror, Fish. jd. 121, 184G ; 



Gnth. Catal, Fish. ii. p. 64 ; Casteln. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iii. 



p. 376 ; Maeleav, Catal. Austr. Fish. i. p. 97 ; Woods, Fisher. N. S. 



AVales, p. 37, pi." vi. 

 Scorpis hoops, Peters, SB. Ak. Berl. 186G, p. 519. 

 Scorpis lineolata, Kner, Yoy. Novara, Fisch. p. 108, pi. v. fig. 3. 



Sweep. 

 Plate X. 



B. vii. D. 1027-28. A. 3/25-27. Y. 1/5. P. 19. C. 17. L. lat. 72-76. 

 L. tr. 13-15/31-33. Coec. pyl. num. Yert. 10/15. 



Length of head 4-90-5-10, of caudal fin 3-66-3-90, height of body 

 275-300 in the total length. Eye moderate, its diameter 3-00-3-40 iii 

 the length of the head, and 1 '00-1 -25 in the convex interorbital space : 

 snout short, obtusely rounded, 1"15-1'33 in the diameter of the eye. Nostrils 

 oval, approximate, the anterior the larger, and on a slightly lower plane 

 than the posterior. Jaws equal. Cleft of mouth small and oblique; maxilla 

 triangular, convex behind, extending to a little behind the A-ertieal from the 

 anterior margin of the orbit. Low^er limb and angle of the preopercle 

 finely serrated, vertical limb rough, but without distinct serrations. Teeth 



