PISHES — WAITIC. 69 



the scales are much more rugose, the spines comparatively longer 

 and more jagged There is also a tendency to rugosity in other- 

 wise .smooth places, such as the snout, top of the head, post 

 orbitals, opercles, etc., and the width of the snout is much less ; 

 whereas in M. japonicus the single scale on the isthmus is narrow ; 

 in M. (/J nria-marift it is triangular and very broad at its base. 

 The greatest differences, however, are presented by the mouth 

 parts. In the former .species the suboi'bital is deep, almost as 

 deep as the eye, and the distal end of the maxilla is considerably 

 dilated, its width half the depth of the eye. In the latter the 

 suborbital is reduced to a narrow strip of bone, so that when the 

 mouth is shut the maxilla is pressed close to the subocular border. 

 This alone produces a considerable difference in what I may term 

 the countenance or expression of the two fishes. The maxilla 

 also is scarcely dilated. In Japanese examples the profile of both 

 upper and lower jaw is almost straight and normal. In our 

 specimens both are curiously bent, the whole mouth is greatly 

 widened, and the premaxillse are bent downwards towards the 

 centre, each half widely separated from its fellow ; above it is 

 excised to receive a process from the preorbital ; the mandible is 

 remarkably thickened and bent ; the symphysis is depressed, and 

 at its lateral third the bifurcation occurs, mentioned by Ogilby, 

 the two limbs embracing the luminous disc ; the external limb 

 ceases at the posterior margin of the disc, and is limited by a deep 

 notch ; the inner limb is greatly elevated above the disc. 



Another subject which seems worth mentioning, and may indeed 

 be of considerable interest, is the colour of the membi'ane lining 

 the mouth. In M. japonicus, as far as I can gather, this presents 

 no peculiarity ; in M. gloria-maris it is quite black. It has 

 been pointed out by several writers that this colour is quite 

 common to the lining membrane of fishes from deep water, and is 

 apparently correlated with luminous organs. It is in such con- 

 nection that we now observe it in the Australian Monocentris. 



Family MULLID^. 



UPENEICHTHYS, Meeker. 



UPENEICHTHYS POROSUS, Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



Red Mullet. 



TJ peneus poTosus, Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., iii., 1829, p. 455. 

 Upeneichthys valmingii, Hector, Trans. N.Z. Inst., ix., 1876, 

 p. 465, pi. ix., fig. 5. 



Stations 1, 12, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29, 39, 48. 



Although frequently exposed in the Sydney Fish Market, 

 members of the Mullidce can scarcely be accounted common on the 



