52 



LORD HOWE ISLA.KD. 



PISHES. 



The present c.italo£;ue of the Fishes of Lord Howe Island is as complete as 

 the means at my disposal allow, having been compiled from the following 

 sources :— (i) The British Museum Catalogue of Pishes, 1859-70, byDr.Albert 

 Grunther, who however appears to have been acquainted with a single 

 species only, and that of very doubtful authenticity ; (ii) specimens collected 

 by Captain Armstrong, late Eesident Magistrate of the island, and forwarded 

 by him to the Museum ; (iii) a collection made by Mr. A. Morton ; (iv) a 

 fish presented to the Hon. Wm. Macleay by the late Mr. H. T. Wilkinson, 

 at that time the Visiting Magistrate, and which is undoubtedly tlie most 

 interesting of the entire collection, as proving the existence of the genus 

 Tetragonurus in the southern hemisphere, while the species itself is absolutely 

 identical with Lowe's Atlantic species*; (v) Kshes presented to the Museum 

 from time to time by Mr. Langley; (vi) specimens in the Macleay Collec- 

 tion at Elizabeth Bay, and kindly j^laced at my disposal by the owner; 

 (vii) the collection formed by Messrs. \l. Etheridge, jun., T. Whitelegge, 

 and ,T. Thorpe ; and (viii) the specimens obtained by Mr. E, H. Saunders. 

 The two latter collections, the first of which was specially organized and 

 equipped by the Australian Museum, yielded by far the most important 

 results, and added greatly to our knowledge of the Biology and Paleontology 

 of this interesting oceanic islet. 



It is unfortunately out of my power to give any definite account of the 

 Palajichthyan fishes of the island, but from information elicited from Messrs. 

 Etheridge, Langley, and Saunders, I am convinced that Galeocerdo rayneri, 

 and Caraharodon rondeletii will prove to be the most abundant of the large 

 sharks. 



The number of species iiicludcd in the present list is eighty-eight, five of 

 which, a Fetrosoiries, a Lotella, a Pseudoscarus, a JBalistes, and a Oohioides, 

 are irreeognizable owing to the bad condition in which they now are. Of the 

 remaining eighty-three species fourteen arc described as new, one of which 

 belongs to a new genus of deep-sea fishes {Sternopti/cUdw) ; these are as 

 follows -.^Aporion chrysuriis, Ohwtodon aphrodite, Ilaplodactylus ofheridgii, 

 Girrhitichtliys ' splendens, Pempheris tmwini, Gohiim wolosoma, Pomacentrus 

 fasciolatus, Glyphidodon poly acanthus, Anampses clegans, A. variolatus, Solea 

 ramsaii Sfernopty chides dentata, Monacanthus hoivensis, and Tctrodon callis- 

 teraus; while of the sixty- nine species then left, no less than twenty-one 

 are here recorded for the first time from Australian waters. These are as 

 follows : — Anthias cichlops, Scorpcena coolci, Plesiops nigricans, Salarias 

 variolosus, 8. marmoratus, S. quadricornis, Acanthoolinus littorcus, Cossyphus 

 atrolumlns, Lahroides paradis/'us, Anampses tioisti, Stethojulis axillaris, 

 Platyqlossiis pseudominiatus, P. trimaaulatus, Julis lanaris, J. trilohafa, 

 Saurus varius, Exoccettos dovi, Spraftelloides gracilis, Congromurcena mellissi, 

 Ostracion fornasini, and Tetrodon valentini. Of the remaining forty-eight 

 species, one of which, Serranus ouatalihi, has a very doubtful record, thirteen 

 onlv have been recorded from New Zealand, of which number eleven are 

 also known from the Australian coast ; it therefore follows that so far as 

 the fishes are concerned the fauna is strictly Australian, only two species, 

 Acanthoolinus littoreus and Ostracion fornasini, having been recorded from 

 New Zealand, and not from Australian seas, while the former was, previous 



* See the paper "On the genua Tetra,(jomirus" by Dr. Ramsay and the author, 

 published in the i'roc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, Ml (2), ]S8S, p. 9. 



