80 " THETIS " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



This new species was taken on foui- occasions, extending from 

 Bungaree Norah, south of Newcastle,- to Wollongong, and at 

 depths between 32 and 78 fathoms. 



CALLANTHIAS, Lowe. 



CALLANTHIAS PLATEI, Steindachner. 



Callaiithias platei, Steind., Fauna Chilensis, Zool. Jahrb., Supp., 

 iv., 2, 1898, p. 284, pi. xv. 



Station 15. 



Shortly after the publication of the Preliminary Report* with 

 reference to the species provisionally referred to C. cd/porti, Mr. 

 J. D. Ogilby placed on my table a reprint of Dr. Steindachner's 

 paper on the Plate Collection, open at page 284. We jointly 

 decided that the species there described was identical with the 

 " Thetis " examples. 



Next followed Boulenger's note on CaUanthias,j wherein, on 

 reference to my pen and ink sketch, he expresses his opinion that 

 the Chilian and Australian species are the same. In his 

 interesting note he further draws attention to several species 

 common to Eastern Australia and Chili, and suggests that in 

 future closer comparison be instituted between the fishes of the 

 western and eastern parts of the South Pacific than has hitherto . 

 been the case. 



Then Ogilby, looking up a specimen he had obtained in 1897, 

 made a critical comparison of the two forms, and proposed for 

 Australian specimens the trinomial Callanthias platei australi?.X 



We trawled six examples, attaining a length of 205 mm. off 

 Norah Head, 36 miles north of Port Jackson, in 32-48 fathoms. 

 They may have been netted among rocks, as obstructions were 

 encountered which rendered the raising of the trawl a necessity. 

 According to Dr. Plate, however, as quoted by Steindachner, 

 they are also of pelagic habit, as indicated by the following 

 passage: — "Although by no means abundant, this species 

 surrounds the island of Juan Fernandez in large shoals of many 

 hundreds of individuals. From the edges of the tablclaiidis I 

 have seen such swarms of fish that they appeared a dense mass 

 under the surface of the water, like golden spots in the remoter 

 distance." 



* Waite—" Thetis " Prelim. Report, 1898, p. 31. 



t Boulenger— Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (7), iii., 1899, p. 346. 



J Ogilby— Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., xxiv., 1899, p. 173. 



