240 



could not be ascertained. It appeared to have been large, and its 

 coats to have been soft, fibrous, and nacry, and though thick, very 

 readily torn. The melt was enclosed in a delicate capsule with a 

 long seminal duct. 



Under the lateral line there is a bright silvery stripe extending the 

 whole length of the fish, and above it a stripe of equal breadth of a 

 brownish-purple colour. This stripe reaches the tip of the caudal 

 in one direction, and in the other passes over the upper part of the 

 gill-cover, along the sides of the head to the mouth. Above, the 

 back is of a lighter brown, and along the base of the caudal there 

 is a purplish-black line. These colours are described as they exist 

 after two or three years of maceration in spirits, and they have doubt- 

 less undergone alteration since the fish was taken. 



Science is indebted for this novel and highly interesting form of 

 fish to the late Captain Sir Everard Home, who never lost an oppor- 

 tunity of adding to our Natural History collections. He obtained it 

 in King George's Sound. Some half-digested pieces of fish were 

 found in the mouth, but nothing except mucus in the intestines. 



Dimensions. 



Inches. 

 Length from tip of the snout to extremity of caudal, 



exclusive of rostral barbel 16"50 



from tip of the snout to tip of the gill-cover. . 4*80 



from tip of the snout to fore-edge of the orbit 3*00 



from tip of the snout to anus 1000 



Distance between the orbits - 38 



Length of diameter of the eye 0"45 



of rostral barbel 0-62 



■ from posterior angle of the eye to the tip of 



the gill-cover 1 '43 



of the opening of the mouth 1 • 10 



Height of the head behind the preoperculum 0*65 



Greatest breadth of shoulders or nape 0*70 



Height of body behind the pectorals TOO 



Length of naked space between dorsal and caudal . . 2 - 00 



of caudal fin. . . . , 2'50 



of attachment of anal fin 1 -80 



of pectorals 0*95 



Height of posterior dorsal rays 0*80 



