. 250 Transactions. 
palatine bones, or tongue. Preoperculum with its angle rounded and some- 
what oblique. Operculum rounded, its margin very thin. Gills 4, a slit 
behind the fourth. Gill-rakers 16, on the lower half of the anterior limb. 
Dorsal fin with its origin well in advance of that of the anal, and somewhat 
elevated. Its first ray is longest, subequal with the height of the head 
at the operculum ; the rest decrease in length gradually backward, the last 
ray being about ? the width of the eye. 
The origin of the anal is the vertical from the third—fourth dorsal rays, 
but its last ray is almost below the last dorsal ray. Pectoral long, reaching 
backward as far as the base of the procurrent caudal rays, while its greatest 
width is subequal with the distance from the tip of the snout to its own 
base. 
on its outer margin, the lens being blue-black. Anterior pectoral rays 
individuals. The membrane of the pectoral varies in colour from slaty- 
blue at the base to almost black on its outer margin. 
Dorsal fin dusky brown, the rays somewhat darker. Ventral with its 
central rays dusky brown, becoming lighter towards the margin; the 
membrane being dirty-white. Caudal brown, streaked darker. 
Described from a specimen 365 mm. long from the tip of the snout to 
the hypural joint. Its greatest depth is 60 mm. ; the length of the head 
70mm. Diameter of the eye, 18 mm. 
Locality and Distribution.—Generally distributed throughout the Auck- 
land east-coast district from the Bay of Plenty northwards.  Plentiful at 
the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf and about the near outlying islands. Also 
recorded from the coast near Sydney, New South Wales, but considered rare. 
Family HISTIOPTERIDAE. 
Genus Paristioprerus Bleeker. 
Paristiopterus labiosus. Giant Boar-fish. (Plate 23.) 
Histiopterus labiosus Günther, P.Z.S., p. 658, pl. 59, 1871. H. farnell 
Waite, Mem. Austr. Mus., No. 4, pt. 1, p. 116, pl. 27, 1899. 
Paristiopterus labiosus McCulloch, Check List, vol. 2, Aust. 
Zoologist, pt. 3, p. 92, pl. 28, fig. 2394, 1922. 
D. viii/XVII A n/A VIN P xvii; C. xvii/3+3; Br. 4. 
. , Head 3 in the length to the hypural joint, and rather more than 14 in the 
height below the fourth dorsal spine. Eye 3} in the head, about as wide 
