DISTEIBUTIOK OF SHOEE FISHES. 295 



European forms."" Several of the berycoid genera inhabit the Japa- 

 nese and Mediterranean waters exclusively, while others, as the 

 red mullets, John Dorys, and trumpet-fishes (Centriscus), occurring 

 in these two districts and elsewhere, are wanting on both the East 

 and West American coasts.* How the transference of the Mediter- 

 ranean fauna to the East Asiatic coast, or the converse, was effected, 

 whether by means of a comparatively recent open water-way be- 

 tween the two regions, as has been supposed by some, our present 

 knowledge does not permit us to say. 



The shore fishes of the south temperate zone, which extends 

 northward from the Antarctic faunal belt to about the thirtieth 

 parallel of south latitude, are most intimately related to those of 

 the north temperate, although very distinct from the forms which 

 occupy the intermediate or equatorial zone. Nor is this corre- 

 spondence restricted to generic types alone, since we find a consid- 

 erable number of northern species which, skipping the intermediate 

 tract, reappear here without having undergone even varietal modi- 

 fication. Such are the chimsera (Chimsera monstrosa), two species 

 of dog-fish (Acanthias vulgaris and A. Blainvillii), the monk-fish 

 (Rhina squatina), John Dory (Zeus faber), angler (Lophius piscato- 

 rius), bellows-fish (Centriscus scolopax), anchovy (Engraulis en- 

 crasicholus), sprat (Clupea sprattus), and conger (Conger vulgaris). 

 Among the marked differences separating the two regions may be 

 mentioned the substitution of the cottoids by the Notothenise (fam- 

 ily Trachinidae) and the Discoboli by the Gobiesocidse.t 



Of the four south temperate provinces, that of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, the South Australian (with New Zealand), the Chilian, 

 and the Patagonian, the Australian is by far the richest, numbering 

 in its fauna not less than one hundred and twenty genera and two 

 hundred species. Two-thirds of all the genera occurring on the 

 coasts of Southeastern Australia and Tasmania are also represented 

 in the shore fauna of New Zealand, which comprises some one 

 hundred species. The New Zealand genera not represented in the 

 Australian coast are about twenty-six in number, with about an 

 equal number of species. The most marked difference between 

 the two nearly contiguous faunas is the absence of gadoids in the 

 Australian element, while the group is represented by not less than 



* Centriscus scolopax is said to be accidental on the American coast, 

 t The Gobiesocid£e have also northern representatives. 



