FISH. 163 



Family.— SCORP^NID^. 



Apistus ? 



Mr. Darwin's collection contains a species of this genus procured in King 

 George's Sound, New Holland, which, from the bad state of preservation of the 

 specimen, it is scarcely possible to identify with certainty. Possibly it may be 

 new, as it does not seem to accord very exactly with any of those described in the 

 " Histoire des Poissons ;" but I shall not consider it such, nor do more than point 

 out a few of its more obvious characters. 



It is not determinable, whether it was originally one of the naked species of this genus, 

 or whether the scales have been rubbed off, but probably the former. The suborbital and 

 preopercular spines are strong, and considerably developed : the former reaches back further 

 than the maxillary, and nearly to the posterior part of the orbit, and has another very small 

 spine at its base. The lower jaw advances beyond the upper. The head is about one-third of 

 the entire length. The eyes are large, their diameter being contained about three and a half 

 times in the length of the head. The dorsal commences in a line with the ascending margin 

 of the preopercle. The first spine is half the length of the second ; the second is a little 

 shorter than the third, which is longest, and equals two-thirds of the depth of the body ; the 

 fourth and succeeding ones decrease very gradually ; the soft portion of this fin is a little 

 higher than the hinder part of the spinous. The first anal spine is rather more than half the 

 length of the second, which is the strongest of the three, though not much longer than the 

 third. The pectorals are rather pointed, and a little shorter than the head. The ventrals are 

 attached a little behind the pectorals, and are not very much shorter than those fins. 

 The following is the fin-ray formula : 



D. 13/9; A. 3/6 ; C. 11, &c. ; P. 11 ; V. 1/5. 



Length 4 inches 6 lines. 



The species to which this approaches nearest would seem to be the A. niger 



of Cuvier and Valenciennes ; but there is no appearance of the small elevations on 



the skin resembling hairs, which those authors mention in their description of this 



last, and, on the whole, I am inclined to consider it as distinct. 



Agriopus hispidus. p. 38. 

 Notwithstanding what I have advanced in regard to this species, further 

 consideration has inclined me to suspect, that it may prove ultimately only the 

 young of the A. Peruvianus. In that case, however, it would appear that the 

 absence of vomerine teeth can only be assigned as a character of this genus in the 

 adult state. 



