166 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 
described by the writer under the title of Latris Mortoni, and two small and some. 
what doubtful species, Z. bilineata and L. inornata, have been reported by Count 
Castlenau from the Victorian coast-line. The genus Chilodactylus, belonging also to 
the Trumpeter family, that of the Cirrhitide, possesses representatives which are 
much more extensively distributed. It includes the so-called Sea Carp, Chilodactylus 
Allporti; Sea Perch, C. macropterus; Magpie Perch, C. bizonarius and Butter-fish, 
C. nigricans, of the Tasmanian and Victorian markets. Two species, Chilodactylus 
nigrescens, the so-called Groper, and C. carponemus, the Leather Mouth, are not 
unfrequently exposed for sale in the Fremantle market, while a small form, C. gibbosus, 
which is also met with in Western Australia, occurs likewise on the eastern coast-line 
as far north as Moreton Bay. The several species of Chilodactylus of economic value 
that frequent the coast of New South Wales are distinguished in the Sydney market 
by the aboriginal title of “‘ Morwongs.” , 
The portraits of coloured plaster models of the majority of the species of the 
genus Chilodactylus above enumerated will be found among the series illustrated by 
Plate XXVIII. The four fish occupying the fourth row from the top are all Cirrhitide, 
and with one exception referable to the aforesaid genus. The fish to the extreme 
left, characterised by its boldly defined black and white bands, is the so-called Magpie 
Perch. In captivity it proved to be specially susceptible of domestication. One 
example was, in fact, so tame that it was accustomed to thrust its head out of water 
and permit itself to be stroked and fed from the hand with its favourite food, which 
consisted of the small round Pea-crabs, Pinnotheres, which abounded as mess-mates or 
commensals in the common mussels that were opened and cut up for the general 
commissariat. This Magpie Perch, and also a Tasmanian Flounder, which manifested ; 
similar sociable proclivities, constituted, it may be remarked, special objects of 
admiration and attraction to the late Admiral Sir George Tryon, who, when 
visiting Hobart with the Australian squadron, was a frequent visitor to the writer’s 
Fisheries establishment. 
The fish next on the line to the Magpie Perch is the so-called Sea or Black or 
Silver Perch of the Tasmanian market, and is especially notable for the abnormal 
length of one of the free rays of its pectoral fin. The larger, transversely striped fish 
next to this is “the Carp” of the Hobart market, Chilodactylus Aillporti, notable in life 
for its handsome colouration, in which alternate bands of white and vermilion red 
predominate. Soon after removal from the water the whole body becomes suffused 
with the vermilion tint, but that again speedily gives place to a more uniform hue 
