ICHTHYOLOGICAL NOTES. 



By ALLAN R. McCULLOCH, Zoologist, Australian Museum. 



(Contribution from the Australian Museum). 



(Plate X.) 



The following notes deal with the nomenclature and status of several genera and species of fishes from 

 New- South Wales, which have been brought under consideration during the course of a revision of the 

 list of fishes recorded from the waters of this State. By the acquisition of fresh specimens of Pteroplatea 

 australis and Petroscirtes anolius, I have been enabled to prepare figures of these species, while an 

 examination of the holotype of A spidontus maroubree has enabled me to correct several errors in its 

 original description. 



Family Dasybatid.t:. 



Pteroplatea australis, Ramsay &■ Ogilby. 



(Plate x. ; fig. 3.) 



Pteroplatea australis, Ramsay & Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, x., 1886, p. 575, and hoc. cit. 

 (2), U., 1888, p. 1024. Id., Ogilby, Ann. QUI. Mus., No. 9, 1908, p. 5. 



Length from the snout to the end of the ventrals 1.8 in the width. Tail 2.8 in the length. Narrow- 

 est inter-spiracle width 1.2 in the space between the eyes ; width of the spiracle 5.07, and bulge of the 

 eye 4.7 in the same. Mouth as wide as its distance from the end of the snout. Internasal width 1.4 

 in the preoral length. 



Disc less than twice as broad as long, its greatest width being at about the middle of its length. 

 Snout acute, not produced. Anterior margins sinuous, the outer angles obtusely pointed, and the 

 posterior margins very slightly convex. Eyes small, elevated above the surrounding surface. Spiracles 

 large, sub-quadrangular ; the interspiracle width less than that between the eyes. Nostrils with free, 

 angular lobes posteriorly. Outer angles of the internasal valve produced into obtusely pointed lobes ; 

 the posterior margin sinuous, interrupted on the median line. Teeth small, each with a single cusp. 

 Skin of the back smooth; a short tentacle behind each spiracle. Tail with a short, thick spine inserted 

 a little behind the posterior margins of the ventrals; a low keel is present on the superior and inferior 

 surfaces of the tail. 



Colour. — Disc greenish grey, variegated with lighter and darker areas, and speckled with small, 

 light grey spots with darker centres. Symmetrically disposed darker patches are present in front o 1 

 the eyes, exterior to the spiracles, on the sides of the pectorals and near their posterior angles. Tail 

 black above, white below, the white encroaching upon the sides to form two or three incomplete annuli. 

 Lower surfaces white, darker towards the margins of the disc. 



Described from a specimen 712 mm. wide. 



Garman' has united this species with P Mntaculata, Miiller & Henle, but it apparently differs in 

 the details of its colour-marking, while its dorsal fin is often wanting. The absence of this fin has been 

 used to distinguish Aetoplalea from Pteroplatea in which it is present, but the specimens of P. australis 

 in the Australian Museum prove that this character is not constant even within the limits of a species. 



Loc. — The example upon which this description and figure is based was presented to the Australian 

 Museum by Dr. S. J. Johnston. It was obtained at Tuggerah Lakes, New South Wales. 



1. Garman — Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, xxxvi., 1913, p. 411. 



