APPENDIX FISHES. 



541 



from the Louisiades, by Edge-Partingtori, and the latter also by 

 Macgillivray ; a drawing of a Penrhyn Island hook, by Wilkes, 

 may be intended for this type ; while a huge form is represented 

 in the Australian Museum from the Mortlock Group, and another 

 variation is pictured from the Trobriands by Finsch." Another 

 Palu hook has been described by Hedley,* as from Milne Bay, 

 British New Guinea. 



The distribution may thus be circumstantially extended north 

 of the line to the Marshall Group thence westward to the Caroline 

 Islands. About the same latitude, but south of the Equator, we 

 include eastern New Guinea. The known eastern range may be 

 extended a few degrees from Manahiki to Penrhyn Island. 



The natives say that the Palu is never 

 found among the high islands, such as the 

 Fijis, Samoa, New Hebrides, etc.; and that 

 it affects only the low-lying coral atolls. 

 This statement may be explained (as Mr. 

 Hedley suggests to me) as follows : The 

 so called high islands have shelving shores 

 so that a journey of twenty or even thirty 

 miles might have to be undertaken in order 

 to reach the depths frequented by the Palu, 

 on the other hand the shores of the coral 

 atolls are precipitous and deep water is 

 sounded within a few miles of the coast. 



When transcribing Becke's account the 

 statement that the jaws are toothless, did 

 not seem in harmony with the appearance 

 of the palu hooks : these exhibit scratch- 

 ings such as would be made by the teeth 

 of a captured fish, and when examined the 

 teeth of the specimen now received are just 

 the kind to produce such marks. The 

 general form of the hook is shown in the 

 cut here reproduced (Fig. 58). Examples 

 from the Mortlock Group exhibited in the 

 Australian Museum are of enormous size, 

 measuring seventeen and a half inches in 

 length. Such suggest that they were 

 prepared for the capture of much larger 

 fish than those described. 



The most graphic account of Ruvettus pretiosus available to me, 

 is that by Goode and Bean, and the following is extracted from 

 their "Oceanic Ichthyology": "This form, first described from 



Hedley Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., ii., 1898,, p. 288, pi. xiv. 



Fig. 58. 



