FISIIKS — WAITK. 61 



It will be noticed that the xciiti'al rays art' prt'ccded by a spine; 

 this is more than halt' the length of the rays. It niay have 

 been overlooked in European examples, and also in M. f/raeilin, in 

 which, as I have ascertained, from specimens collected on our 

 coast, it is likewise present, llichardson has also duly noted it 

 in 3L humei-osnx.* 



The maximum leni^th of tlie ''Thetis'' examples is 110 mm. 



As no illustration of M. //?-ari/i,s' (available to Australian students) 

 has ever been published, I figure the species on pi. vii., Hg. '2, fi-om 

 an example ol)tained by Mr. T. Whitelegge at iMaroubra Bay in 

 April, 1897. 



Family SYNGNATHID^. 



SOLENOGNATHUS, Swainson. 



SOLENOGNATHUS SPINOSISSIMUS, Gilnther. 



Spiny Sea-horse. 



Solenognatlmis spinosissiinus, Gllnth., Cat. Fish., Brit. Mus., 

 viii., 1870, p. 195. Waite, Proc. Linn. Soc. ^^.S.W. (2), 

 ix., 1894, p. 222, pi. xvii., figs. 5 and 8. 



(Fig. 5). 



Stations 46, 49, 56. 



We have hitherto known the members of this genus only from 

 solitary examples cast on the beaches after stormy -sveather, a 

 circumstance which sufficiently indicates that they are inhabitants 

 of deep water. The "Challenger" obtained S.fasciatus off Twofold 

 Bay in 120 fathoms, and we netted four examples of S. spinosis- 

 simus at depths ranging from 50 to 80 fathoms. At the latter 

 depth (Station 56) a male was trawled bearing ova ; these were 

 fully ripe, and from the anterior part of the specialised area the 

 young had escaped, and the flaccid skin was resuming its normal 

 condition. Further back, however, the ova still remained to the 

 number of thirty-eight. In some instances the enclosed young 

 broke through the integument and escaped into the vessel in 



* Richardson— Voy. Ereb. & Terr., Ichth., 1S44, p. 56. 



