the Tchthyolof/y of Australia. 353 



the skin is moistened it wrinkles, particularly behind the pectorals 

 and on the upper part of the sides, forming many soft, forking and 

 anastomosing ridges which enclose innumerable little pits, each of 

 which is marked by a black spot, while the ridges have a pale yel- 

 lowish brown colour. In drying the skin becomes quite even, and 

 the site of the wrinkles on the top and sides of the body and head is 

 occupied by a fine meshwork of yellowish lines. Towards the belly 

 there appear merely dark specks scattered over the yellowish ground. 

 There are also five or six large irregular dark blotches on the sides 

 and back. The skin is scaleless. 



Rays :— B. 6 ; D. 2— 18 ; A. 16 ; P. 20 ; C. 13 ; V. 1|2. 



The pectorals are oval. The first dorsal is represented by two 

 warty points scarcely projecting above the skin : there is no vestige 

 of a third spine. The soft dorsal, commencing a short way behind 

 these points, has the free compressed tips of its rays covered with 

 thick skin ; its last ray is short, and may be merely a division of the 

 one which precedes it. The same may be said of the last ray of the 

 anal. The opercular spines are rather flat and obtuse, and, as in 

 quadrispinis , the upper one is twice the length of the under one. 

 The suboperculum is armed with two similar spines, and also by a 

 third shorter one or rather angular point beneath them. 



Dimensions. . , ,. 



inches, lines. 



Length from upper lip to end of caudal fin 7 5 



base of ditto 6 



anus 4 7 



■ gill-opening 2 3 



Height at pectorals 1 8 



'Jhickness at ditto 1 8 



Length of pectorals 1 1 



veutrals 1 5 



Labrus gouldii {Nob.), Gould's Wrasse. 

 Sp. British Museum, No, 40, 12, 9, G2. 



The ' Histoire des Poissons' contains descriptions of only- 

 four Labri of the Southern seas, viz. L. poecilopleura of New 

 Zealand, L. epMpinum and macrodontus of Java, and L. gayi 

 of Juan Fernandez. The British Museum possesses a fish 

 brought from Western Austraha by Mr. Gould, w^hich appears 

 to be nearly allied to L. macrodontus, but to differ in the num- 

 ber of the fin-rays as well as in some other particulars. The 

 specimen consists of the dried skin of one side of the fish, and 

 the bones of the head have been much cut away, so that the 

 proper form of the profile cannot be exactly ascertained. No 

 traces of the original colour remain, but Mr. Gould reports 

 that it was an unform olive in the recent fish. In the denti- 

 tion this species approaches to the genus Cossyphus, but the 

 fins are not so extensively scaly, there are no crenatures on the 

 preoperculum, and the general aspect is dissimilar. It differs 



