95 



June 25, 1839. 

 Dr. Bostock in the Chair, 



Dr. Richardson read his account of an interesting collection of 

 flsh formed at Port Arthur in Van Diemen's Land, by T. J. Lem- 

 priere, Esq., Deputy Assistant Commissary General, by directions 

 from His Excellency Sir John Franklin, K.C.B., Lieutenant Govern- 

 or, and now deposited in the museum of the Royal Naval Hospital 

 at Haslar. The collection contains about thirty species, and the 

 paper, which embraces only a part, gives detailed descriptions and 

 anatomical notices of these, several of them being also illustrated 

 by very elaborate drawings, executed by Mr. Charles M. Curtis with 

 his wonted fidelity. The following species are included in the pre- 

 sent paper, the others being reserved for a future communication. 



I. Serranijs Rasor. Ser. maxillis vcdde squamosis, apicibvs ra- 

 diorum pectoralium fasciculatis., compressis, lanceolatis ; pinnis 

 omnibus prater %ientrales squamosis ; radiis acideatis jmiiicB dorsi 

 subcequalibus ; fascia ocidum cingenti ccETuled per lineam latera- 

 lem producld. 



Radii.— Bv. 1-1 ; P. 13; V. l.o; D. 10,21; A. 3, 9; C. 154. 



The Sen-anus Rasor, or Tasmaninn barber, is a beautiful fish belong- 

 ing to that group of Serrani which was named Anthias by Bloch, 

 none of which had previously been described as inhabitants of the 

 Australian seas. It agrees with the barher-fish of the Caribbean 

 seas in having no elongated dorsal rays, and may be distinguished 

 readily from all the known Serrani by the peculiar form of its pec- 

 toral rays, whose numerous Ijranchlets are so graduated and closely 

 approximated as to give a flat lanceolate shape to the tip of each 

 ray. The general colour of the fish is reddish brown, with umber- 

 brown spots, a dark patch beneath the end of the pectorals, a bright 

 blue stripe crossing the anterior suborbitar, encircling the eye, and 

 running along the lateral line to the caudal fin. There are also 

 thirteen or fourteen narrower blue streaks on the lower part of the 

 flanks and tail. The fins are lake-red, and are all, except the ven-r 

 trals, more or less scaly. 



2, Centropristis Salar. Cent, opercido subopercidoque squa- 

 mosis ; interopercido seminudo ; preoperculo subdenticulato ; 

 pinnis dorsi anique infossis receptis. 



Radii.-— Br. 7-7 ; P. 16; D. 9, 16; V. 1, 5 ; A. 3, 10; C. 17-|. 



This species is known locally as the salmon, and difi'ers from 

 C. truttaceus, as described in the Histoire des Poissons, in the distri- 



