54 LOPHOBRAXCHII. 



shield, which equals the operculum in length. The colour is 

 brownish ; the breast and belly and the largest part of the gill- 

 eover being smutty-yellowish. There are lb" body-rings, and 14 

 rings belonging to the egg-pouch. 



Rail— P. 12; D. 39; A. 2; C. 0. 



The Paris Museum possesses two Tasmanian specimens sent 

 by M. Verreaux. 



Subfam. 3. DORYRHAMPHIN.E, Kp. 



The males have the egg-pouch not on the tail, but on the 

 breast and belly. 



Genus 1. DORYRHAMPHUS, Kp. 



Diagn. — No pits along the nuchal shield. Rows of spines on 

 the snout, and two projections on its under part. All the 

 angles of the body serrated. The border of the egg-pouch 

 furnished with two tender membranes that completely cover 

 the eggs. Tail shorter than the body. 



1. Doryrhainphus excisiis, Kp. 



Descr. — I am acquainted with a pair of examples of this species 

 belonging to the Paris Museum, and five very young ones in the 

 Berlin Museum, collected by Hemprich and Ehrenberg in the 

 Red Sea. The largest specimen of the Paris Museum has a 

 length of 244 inches; the head measures 0'51 inch, the body 

 1"06 inch, the short tail 0'59 inch, and its unusually long fin 

 0\91 inch, The dorsal fin is - 2S inch long. 



Measured from the fore border of the orbit, the snout is as 

 long as the distance between the hinder edge of the orbit and 

 the extremity of the gill-cover. Next the nostril there are three 

 coalescent spines, and there are six standing close together on 

 the end of the snout. A row of short spines runs from the under 

 edge of the orbit, and a row extends from behind the orbit to 

 above the tubular nostril. The occiput is finely shagreened and 

 is keeled on its extremity. There are also sundry short promi- 

 nent lines near the operculum. The operculum itself is divided 

 into very unequal parts by a keel, the upper part being the 

 smallest. With the medial keel of the operculum three or four 

 prominent lines are connected. Near the pectoral fin there is a 

 keel on the breast-ring, and the fin, which is unusually large, con- 

 tains 20 rays. The back is narrow, and there is a furrow above 



