196 EDIBLE PISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Colors. — TTcad, baclv, and abdominal region either dark greenish-brown, 

 or olive green with three darker longitudinal bands; above the aual fin paler 

 yellowish-brown ; middle of the sides with several narrow undulated and 

 branehed black lines ; two narrow purple bands, with a yellow streak 

 between them round the lips, two broader purple bands, which quickly dis- 

 appear after death, inside the bases of the soft dorsal and aiial, which, with 

 the pectorals and pedicular spines, are yellow, the latter having their tips 

 blackish : membrane of dorsal spine bhick, with large pale blue spots ; 

 caudal rays pale brown, with the connecting membrane orange in large 

 examples, in the young with a basal and submargiual olive band : teeth 

 white, with yellow tips. 



The habits of this species apparently differ in some respects from the two 

 other Leatherjackets described in this work, inasmuch as it is never caught 

 on the outside reefs by the line fishers, but occasionally visits the sheltered 

 harbors and inlets of the metropolitan district in large shoals, whence it is 

 sent in consiilerable numbers to the market, where they find a ready sale at 

 moderate prices. Such a visitation took place during the summer of 1892, 

 when they were sent to the market in large numbers from all the inlets 

 lying between Port Hacking and Broken Bay, while their occurrence among 

 other fishes from Port Stephens and Shoalhaven — -localities from which 

 Leatherjackets are not forwarded to the market as a general rule — proves 

 that shoals of these fish were prevalent upon a considerable portion of our 

 coastline at that time, since which none have appeared. 



That these were true " school" fishes, even though they showed no signs o£ 

 spaA\ning, was evident from the fact that they were all of much the same 

 size, — from twelve to fourteen inches ; they were readily, even eagerly 

 bought as long as the supply lasted, and we, among others, took the 

 opportunitv of testing their edible qualities, with the gratifying result that 

 we found them, if anything, superior to the other Leatherjackets previously 

 expei'imented on, and quite equal to any fish of these seas. 



The Tellow-finned — or, as Johnston calls it, Lozenge-scaled — Leather- 

 jacket is found in the seas of New South "Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, 

 and very probably, since it is recorded from Port Darwin by Klunzinger, 

 round the entire seaboard of Australia. 



They attain to a length of sixteen inches. 



MON ACANTHUS ATE AUDI. 



Balistes ayraucli, (^uoy & Gaim. Voy. Uranie, Poiss. p. 21G, pi. xlvii, fig. 2. 



Aluteres vclufimts, Jenyns. Voy. Beagle, Fish. p. 157. 



Monacanthus vitfaftis (Solander), Kichar<]s. Vov. Erebus & Terror, Fish. 



p. GG; Steindachn. SB. Ak. Wien, 18GG, liii.'p. 47G, andlSQ7,lyl p. 335. 

 Monacanthus frauoifeldii, Kner, Voy. Novara, Fisch. p. 397. 

 Monacanthus ayraudi, Gnth. Catal. Fish. viii. p. 244 ; Casteln. Proc. Linn. 



Soc. N. S'. Wales, iii. p. 397; Macleav, Catal. Austr. Fish. ii. p. 2G2 ; 



W^oods, Fisher. N. S. Wales, p. 89, pl.\lix. 



Ayraud's Leatherjacliet. 

 D. 32. A. 31. P. 13. C. 12. 



Length of head 3'25, of caudal fin GTo, height of body 3oO in the 

 total length. Eye moderate, its diameter 4o0 in the length of the snout, 

 and 115 in the interorbital space, which is almost flat. Nostrils approxi- 

 mate, rounded, the anterior much the smaller. Snout much produced, with 

 its upper profile slightly convex. Gill-opening situated beneath the middle of 

 the orbit, its length 390 in that of the snout. Dorsal spine moderate and 



