TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 7l 



lowing is the dental formula of the Thylacinus : — incisors ^-^ ; canines j-£-y; premo- 

 lars jj-^; molars jzTi'i ^= 46- ^'^ bony palate is very defective, thus presenting a 

 lower organization than any of the Carnivora of Europe. Its internal organization 

 agrees with that oi Dasyunis and Phascogale, being, as in these carnivorous Marsu- 

 pials, destitute of a CEecum : it differs from Dasyurus and resembles Phascogale in ha- 

 ving the internal condyle of the humerus perforated. It has the pouch so decidedly 

 characteristic of the whole order of these animals. The reason of the existence of this 

 pouch may be to enable the animal to carry its young great distances more easily, as it 

 ■was obliged to travel far, in seasons of drought, in search of water. The pouch is usually 

 limited to the female ; but in Thylacinus a rudiment of the pouch exists in the full- 

 grown male. 



Notices and Drawings of three new Genera of Marine Fishes from Van 

 Diemen's Land. By J. Richardson, M.D., F.R.S, 



1st. Nemadactyltis, or Thread-finger. This acanthopterygian genus agrees with 

 Cheilodactybis in the lower rays of the pectoral fin being simple, with one prolonged 

 beyond the others, and in the general form of the body ; but differs from the percoid 

 family in general in the perfectly unarmed gill-covers, feeble dentition, and scombe- 

 roid character of all the scales below the lateral line. The fauces, palate and tongue are 

 smooth, the margin of the mouth exhibiting a single row of slender minute teeth. 

 The intermaxillary pedicles are short, the gill-rays only three ; the pyloric cseca like- 

 wise three, and the spinal vertebrae thirty-four. The only species known is named N. 

 concinnus, and but one specimen was obtained. Length 3^ inches. Its stomach con- 

 tained fragments of malacostraca. 



2nd. Latris has a mcenoid aspect, but differs from the rest of that group in the in- 

 ferior half of the pectoral rays being simple, and in the combination of certain cha- 

 racters, which, though existing, and indeed rather characteristic of the family, are not 

 all found in any one genus. It is most nearly allied to Cheilodactylus. The species 

 described is named Latris hecateia, or Six-banded Trumpeter. Two species of this 

 genus appear to be represented in Nos. 204, 205, and 209 of the drawings made on 

 Cook's second voyage at New Zealand : they bear the MS. names of Scicena lineata 

 and Scieena ciliaris. The drawings do not exhibit the structure of the pectorals di- 

 stinctly, yet the other details are so correct, that there seems to be no reason for doubt- 

 ing their position in the genus Latris. Scitjsna lineata has the precise markings of L. 

 hecateia, the species described in this paper, and may be identical with it. The Van 

 Diemen's Land fish is named the Trumpeter by the colonists, and is esteemed as their 

 best fish. The figure 205 above referred to has the word " sapidissimiis " written be- 

 neath it in Forster's hand. 



3rd. Hoplegnathus, a scaroid fish, departing greatly from the usual aspect of the fish 

 of this family. In dentition and form of the jaws this genus approaches more 

 nearly to the typical Scari than to Odax. But the scales of the body are small, the 

 bases of the vertical fins are densely scaly, with fillets of minute scales stretching up 

 between the rays. The spinous rays are very unlike the flexible ones of Odax, being 

 stronger than is usual even in Scarus, and the lateral line is continuous. This fish 

 was brought to England by the surgeon of a convict ship, but as he is since dead, 

 the locality in which it was taken cannot be now ascertained. 



Full descriptions, with figures of these fish, are to be published in the forthcoming 

 volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Societj\ 



On the Habits of the Eel, and on the Freshwater Fish of Austria. JBy 

 Captain Widdrington, R.N. 



The author stated that his attention was drawn to the subject by a remark of Mr. 

 Yarrell in his work on British Fishes, in which he ascribes the deficiency of eels in the 

 Danube to the excessive susceptibility of the eel to cold. The author had seen eels 

 at Wurzburg on the Mayn, where the average degree of cold is quite as great as that 

 of the Danube. They also exist in the Elbe, at a point where that river would also be 

 colder than the Danube. They exist undoubtedly in the higher branches of the 

 Danube, but not in the delta. This, the author thinks, may be ascribed to the na- 

 ture of many of the waters which fall into the Danube, which, being alpine in their 



