72 " THETIS " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Previously the habitat was stated as follows : — " So far as can 

 be ascertained from public records and from our own experience, 

 the purely Port Jackson district, stretching from Broken Bay in 

 the north to Port Hacking in the south, can alone be given as the 

 acknowledged habitat of this species on our coast."* (Ogilby). 



The accompanying plate is drawn from a young example, 

 measuring 200 mm. (7f inches) in total length. In specimens of 

 this size, and smaller, two or three rows of very large scales are 

 present above the eye. In older examples they become obsolete, 

 as do also the dark bands on the dorsal surface and sides. These 

 bands are not always constant in number or position, and the two 

 sides of the fish figured, are dissimilar ; on the left side, as shown, 

 they are six in number, situated, one over the eye, one on the 

 occiput, one beneath the spinous dorsal, two below the soft dorsal 

 and one on the caudal peduncle. The right side differs in having 

 an additional band, there being three beneath the dorsal rays. 

 None of the bands reach the ventral profile, but that on the 

 caudal is faintly pi'oduced across the peduncle. 



The scales on the body are too minute to be indicated in a 

 drawing of a fish as small as that illustrated. 



TRACHURUS, Rafinesque. 



TRACHURUS DECLIVIS, Jenyns. 



Yellow-tail. 



Caranx declivis, Jenyns, Zool. Beagle, Fish., 1842, p. 68, pi. xiv. 



Stations 17, 24, 26, 39. 



One scarcely expects to meet with this fish while trawling, and 

 indeed those secured were obtained under quite adventitious 

 circumstances. Few of them were perfect, the others were 

 damaged due to having been more or less digested by some carni- 

 vorous fish. On two occasions partially digested examples were 

 ejected by Dories, and as these latter fishes are known to be 

 predatory feeders, it is possible that most of the Yellow-tails were 

 secured by their efforts and the remainder taken as the trawl 

 approached the sui-face. All the specimens secured were .small, 

 not exceeding 6 inches in length. 



* Ogilby— Edible Fishes, N.S.W., 1893, p. 86. 



