
Tur VALIDITY or GALAXIAS KAYI Ramsay And OGILBY 
By G. STOKELL, Cawreruuay, New ZEALAND, 
In 1886 Ramsay and Ogilby described a species of Galacias tram Filth Creek, 
South Australia, under the name of Kayi, but when Regan revised the Galaxiidae 
in 1905 he identified this fish with olidus which Gunther (1866, p. 209) based 
on a single specimen, the locality being given as 7 Queensland. Several points 
af disagreement between the deseriptions of (@. olidus and G, kayi seemed to lay 
this identification open to question, and certain cireumstances noted in the course 
of an investigation of the New Zealand Galaxias suggested the possibility of 
G, olidus being a New Zealand species. In order to elarify the position the writer 
applied to Dr, Ethelwynn Trewavas of the British Museum who very kindly mace 
an X-ray examination of the type fov the purpose of determining the number of 
vertebrae, The result shows that the (ype of @. olidus is a deformed specimen with 
the vertebrae fused in several places. Evidence of about 50 vertebrae ean be 
discerned, but no reliance can be placed on the count as it has been found in 
deformities of this nature oceurring in known species that several vertebrae may 
he eutirely unaccounted for. Dr. Trewavas states that the type is incomplete 
aud that in the jar with it there is a headless specimen in which, however, the 
vertebral column is intact, This specimen has 57 vertebrae, An examination 
of the X-ray photographs (which are deposited in the South Australian Museum) 
does not enable the present writer to determine if these two specimens are 
specifically identical, but reveals nothing inconsistent with their being so, If 
their specific unity is assumed, it is necessary to separate G. olidus and the form 
deseribed by Ramsay and Ogilby on aveount of the number of vevtebrac, Three 
specimens of this South Australian form whieh were made available through the 
kindness of Mr, FH. M. Male, Director of the South Australian Museum, have 51, 
51, and 52 vertebrae (without hypural). Ramsay and Ogilby record 53 in the 
original deseription, A range from 51 (the minimum in @. kay!) to 57 (the number 
in the headless specimen) js greater than has heen observed in any Galaxias and 
cannot be accepted as occurring in a single species. On the other hand, if the 
tape of (@, olidus is regarded as distinct from the headless specimen associated with 
it, the sole representative of this species is a single, deformed and incomplete 
specimen of uncertain locality with which 1° is impossble to identify any fish. 
It is therefore necessary to reinstate the name G. kayi for the South Australian 
fish, as it appears to be the first to have been regularly applied. Other species 
veeorded from the locality are G. schomburgkii Peters (1868), G. rostratus 
Klmizinger (1872) and @. nigothoruk Lueas (1892), the original descriptions of 
