306 Zoological Society. 
wards at the apex; the lower edge of the upper mandible is curved 
inwards and encloses the cutting edges of the lower one, but it is 
not notched as in the more typical species of Agrilorhinus. ‘The 
forehead, a broad space around the eye, and the ear-coverts, are 
black : the chin is blackish. The feathers of the wing are blackish, 
but externally edged with blue; and so are the tail-feathers.” 
March 10, 1840.—Professor Owen in the Chair. 
A paper by Dr. Richardson, on a collection of Fishes, was read : 
The proceedings of the Society for June 25, 1839, contain the 
first part of the description of this collection, which was made at Port 
Arthur in Van Diemen’s Land, by Deputy- Assistant-Commissary- 
General Lempriére, pursuant to the directions of His Excellency Sir 
John Franklin, K.C.B. &c., Lieutenant-Governor of the colony. 
The subject is resumed in this paper, and the author describes a 
Dajao, which differs from the three known mullets of Australia in 
many particulars, and from all the Mugiloidee described in the Histoire 
des Poissons, in the greater number of rays of the anal fin, as well as 
in the combinations of other characters. The only Dajao mentioned 
in the work referred to, is an inhabitant of the mountain streams of 
the Caribbee Islands; while the Van Diemen’s Land one has been 
found only in the sea; but perhaps both are anadromous. The rough 
plates on the palate and vomer of some acknowledged typical mullets 
assimilate their dentition greatly to that of the Dajaos ; and the pre- 
sent species approaches the ordinary mullets in the form of the orifice 
of the mouth, while its palatine and vomerine teeth are nearly as 
large as those on the jaws. It is prized as an article of food. 
Dasaus Diemensis (Richardson). Tasmanian Dajao. 
Dajaus, rostro feré truncato, vir prominente. 
Radii :—Br. 6—6; P. 15; D.4—1 |] 9; A.3[ 12; V.1 | 5; C. 
144. 
The author next remarks that of four Labri in the collection, two 
species, comparatively little ornamented, are furnished with six gill 
rays, while the other two, more gaily coloured, and one of them in- 
deed brilliantly striped, have only five rays in the branchiostegous 
membrane. They are all true labri, but the scales which protect their 
opercula, though in fact much larger than those of Labrus bergylta, 
are so deeply imbedded in mucous skin, that in a recent state these 
fish might pass for examples of the genus Tautoga, which they further 
resemble in possessing a tolerably regular inner row of minute teeth. 
They are without scales on the interoperculum, and the small scales 
on their cheeks being variously distributed, furnish specific charac- 
ters. All four have canine teeth at the corners of the mouth, and, 
contrary to the prevailing character of the Labri, the soft rays of the 
dorsal exceed the spinous ones in number, resembling in this re- 
spect the Labrus pecilopleura of New Zealand. 
Laprus Tetricus. Lab., squamis minutis in ordinibus duobus ad 
marginem anteriorem superiorem preoperculi instructis ; operculo 
squamis majoribus in seriebus ternis quaternisve dispositis 
tecto. 
