274 Tra usa ction;^. — Zoology. 



Ststnema.* Gen. nov. 



UranoscopuSf Cuv, au Tal. Antma, Giintli., II., 230. KatJietosUmia, 



Hutton, 23. 



Habit and teeth of Uinnoscopiis ; scales very small ; a filament in tjie 

 interior of the moutli ; one continuous doi*sal ; rentrals jugular ; pectoral rays 

 branched ; some bones of tlie head :u*med — six branch iostegals ; pseudo- 

 bi-anchiie. 



Synnema monopterffgiumf mihi. 

 Anema „ Giinthen 



KcUhetostoma „ Hutton. 



This species since the days of Sohmder and Foi-ster hsis undergone several 

 rhanges in its nomenclature, the latest being that proposed by Capt. Hutton, 

 because he finds a tilanient in the mouth, so that the generic name of Anema 

 of Giinthcr (without filament) would be quite inappropriate. The species 

 cannot agj\in be united vritli Umnoscopuit, as it possesses one dorsiil onl}^, while 

 it cannot be placed with Kathefosfonia^ as Capt. Hutton has proposed, because 

 the three spines on the inferior mai'gin of the pneoperculum, the two on the 

 mandibula and two on the thi^oat^, which form amongst othei's a very important 

 chaiivcter oi that species, are absent in the g^enus under I'e^'iew. 



Tlie Canterbury Museum posse^es two specimens of this curious genus, of 

 which one (11 in. 6 lines long) was cjiught in the river Avon, neivi" Christ- 

 church, and the other (15 in. long) in the river Rangitiita, about forty miles 

 above its mouth, by Mr. W. Packe, who presented it to the Museum. 



This species, as far as the specimens in the Canterbury Museum are 

 concerned, is iiuviatUe in its habits, but I suppose that it inhabits both salt 

 and fresh water perioilically. 



I may also here observe that at least some of this tribe, which all bury in 

 the sands or mud lying thei"e in wnut for their food pissing over their mouth, 

 can I'emain above low-w ater mark during the ebbing of the sej^ as one of my 

 sons when digging for shells in the sands on the beach near tlie Sumner Hotel 

 not far below high- water mark came upon a specimen about 15 in. long. It 

 was carried by him to a pool of water with a sjmdy bottom, but the fish 

 disappeared in an incredibly short si>ace of time, having buried itself in the 

 sands. 



Ejlthetostoma gigaxteum. sp. nov. 



The Canterbury Museum received from Mr. Day, in Sumner, a very large 

 S}>ecimen of cat-fish, caught in the Heathcote estuary, near Sumner, which 

 vipou examination proved new to science. 



This magnificent specimen, which, as fivr as I could ascertain, is the largest 



* From si/n with, and Kema filament. 



