FISH. 10 



The crown of the head has two nearly parallel elevated lines, which take their origin between 

 the nostrils, and terminate at the occiput, but do not meet as in the H. sexlineatus ; * a third 

 line commences there exactly between them, and runs singly in a backward direction down the 

 middle of the nape ; this last is scarcely more than half the length of the two former. The 

 cheeks and pieces of the gill-cover are scaly; but not the cranium, snout, jaws, or limb of the 

 preopercle, which last is margined internally by a slightly elevated ridge. The scales on the 

 body are thin and small, and without any trace of denticulations on their free edges, even under 

 a magnifier, and the body of the fish is quite smooth to the touch rubbed either way. Lateral 

 line as in H. sexlineatus. Dorsal also nearly similar, but more deeply notched, the membrane 

 beyond the eleventh spine falling nearly to the base of the twelfth, which precedes the soft 

 portion : sixth spine longest, equalling very nearly, but not quite, half the depth; the eleventh 

 equals the second ; the twelfth is about one-third longer than the eleventh, but is itself scarcely 

 half the first soft ray. The anal has three soft rays less than the H. sexlineatus, and there are 

 apparently but two spines, the first being (at least in this specimen, where, however, there may 

 have been a portion broken off) quite short and rudimentary ; the second and third spines are 

 both slender, the former being rather more than half the length of the latter, and this last 

 rather more than half the first soft ray. All the fins take their origin as in H. sexlineatus. 

 The pectorals are about two-thirds the length of the head. The ventrals, which are very near 

 together, are longer than the pectorals, but do not equal the head : they have no elongated 

 scale between them, or in their axillae. 

 Colour.— For the most part similar to that of the H. sexlineatus ; but the longitudinal dark lines 

 are more numerous, amounting to eight, with faint traces of a ninth: the additional ones are on 

 the upper half of the sides, or above the lateral line, there being four (instead of two) above 

 that one which passes through the eyes ; the sixth extends the whole length of the fish from 

 the end of the maxillary to the base of the caudal ; the seventh passes immediately below the 

 pectoral, and terminates in advance of it, without quite reaching to the edge of the gill-cover ; 

 the eighth is exactly equi-distant from the pectoral and ventral ; this last is a very narrow pale 

 line, but the others, with the exception of the first two, are broader and well marked. The 

 soft portion of the dorsal, as well as the anal and caudal are spotted ; the spots on this last 

 unite to form transverse fascise ; those on the anal are not very well-defined. The pectorals and 

 ventrals are without spots, and pale. 



Habitat, S. W. coast of Australia. 



This species was procured in King George's Sound, New Holland. It closely 

 approaches the H. sexlineatus of Cuvier and Valenciennes, the only species of the 

 genus hitherto described, and obtained in the same seas by MM. Quoy and Gai- 

 mard. I have little hesitation, however, in pronouncing it to be distinct. In- 

 dependently of the additional longitudinal lines on the body, and the spots on the 

 fins, which, it is expressly stated by the above authors, are not present in the 

 H. sexlineatus, it is distinguished by the stria? on the crown not meeting behind, 

 the dorsal being rather more deeply notched, and the fin-ray formula different. 



* Or at least as represented in the figure in the Histoire des Poissons, torn. iii. pi. 56. 



