FISHES PHENOMENAL AND ECONOMICAL. 167 



of dusky brown. The fourth fish to the extreme right in this series is the Silver 

 Trumpeter, Latris Forsteri, having much the same pattern of colour markings as the 

 " Real " or Hobart Trumpeter, L. hecateia, immediately beneath it, but entirely wanting 

 the finer lines and symmetry of form of that species. The tints of the colour bands 

 in this species are also very distinct, varying in individuals from a golden brown to a 

 more or less .definite red-brown or light red hue. The remaining example of the 

 Cirrhitidaj represented in this plate is the large fish to the right in the second row 

 from the bottom. This is the " Butter-fish," Cliilodactylus nigricans, of the Hobart and 

 Melbourne markets, a somewhat rare visitor to the southern island colony, but plentiful 

 on the Victorian coast-line. Extending westward, it constitutes one of the commoner 

 market fishes at Adelaide and Fremantle. The colours of this species are somewhat 

 attractive, consisting of a blue-grey ground, variegated with more or less well-defined 

 oblique bands of blackish spots. A large fish is often over three feet in length and 

 weighs ten or twelve pounds. 



The yet larger massive fish, Cattorhynchus antarcticus, on the same line as 

 Cktiodactylw nigricans, is, as will be recognised by the formation of its tail, a 

 member of the shark tribe. As such it is appropriately referred to among other of 

 its more immediate congeners at the end of this Chapter. 



The genus Beryx, of the family of the Berycidse, has several representatives 

 in Australian waters that are greatly esteemed for food. One of these, Beryx afflms, 

 is known in Sydney as the " Nannegai." The same species and an allied form, 

 B. Mutteri, are supplied to both the Adelaide and Fremantle markets, and are there 

 distinguished by the title of " King Snappers." The fishes of this genus are among 

 the most resplendent of known species. Both of the two forms named are, when 

 freshly caught, the most brilliant scarlet carmine with various opalescent tints, chiefly blue 

 and lilac reflections. Added to this, their abnormally large and lustrous eyes confer 

 upon them a most distinguished appearance. The chief interest attached to these 

 Berycidce is, however, the circumstance that they represent the oldest known group of 

 spine-finned or Acanthopterygian fishes. They were most abundantly represented in the 

 cretaceous epoch, and their known living representatives are mostly confined to deep 

 water. The occurrence of the few existing littoral species which still linger around the 

 Australian coast-line is of high significance, taken into account with the many other 

 ancient forms of animal and vegetable life that so notably distinguish this Island- 

 Continent. An illustration of Beryjc Mulleri, the most abundantly represented Western 

 Australian member of this interesting genus, is given in Plate XXIX. 



