the Ichthyology of Australia. 



27 



not acute, is supported by a cartilaginous prolongation of the sub- 

 operculum. The two rows of large supra-scapular scales are ren- 

 dered very conspicuous by each of them being bounded anteriorly 

 by a patch of small scales. The semioval projecting limb of the 

 supra- scapular is minutely undulated on the margin. The edge of the 

 humeral bone is entire. The pectoral has the pointed and tapering 

 sparoid form, and reaches back nearly to the anal fin. The dorsal 

 spines are strong, much compressed and acute, and the membrane is 

 attached alternately to their right and left sides. The third anal 

 spine is longer, and fully as strong as the second one ; the first one 

 is short, tapers suddenly to an acute point, and is furrowed anteriorly : 

 these spines are also right and left. The soft dorsal and anal fins 

 are rounded ; their bases are scaly, and fillets of scales run between 

 the rays for one quarter of their length : very short fillets of scales 

 recline against the base of each spinous ray. The caudal is crescentic 

 on the margin. 



Scales. — There are about fifty furrows running to the basal edge 

 and part of the adjoining lateral margins of each scale, the alternate 

 ones being short, and the longer ones reaching nearly to the middle. 

 The exposed surface of the scale is smooth to the touch, and its 

 margin looks to be thin and membranous ; but when examined through 

 a lens the surface appears to be shagreened, or reticulated by minute 

 obtuse eminences, and some very small and irregularly placed teeth 

 may be discovered on the edge. Each scale is pale on the border and 

 dark towards its middle, the dark tint occupying nearly the whole 

 exposed surface of the scales above the lateral line, and becoming 

 proportionally smaller and fainter on the sides, so as to be scarcely 

 perceptible at the level of the pectorals. They produce longitudinal 

 lines on the sides corresponding to the number of rows of scales. 



Teeth. — Each limb of the upper jaw is armed with an even row of 

 about twenty conical teeth, which are so short as to be concealed by 

 the lips ; and there are also two conspicuous canines close to each 

 other near the symphysis. Behind these, on the whole length of the 

 concave surface of the jaw, there is a narrow stripe of very short 

 irregularly crowded teeth, which must have been almost concealed 

 by the soft parts in the recent fish. Through a lens each of these 

 minute teeth appears blunt, and answers better to the term ' dents 

 grenues,' used in the ' Histoire des Poissons/ than to that of villiform. 

 Each limb of the lower jaw is furnished with about eight strong co- 

 nical teeth of unequal heights and unequally distributed, as if some 

 had dropped out and were not yet replaced. The lateral ones are 

 rather the tallest, but they do not equal the two upper canines, 

 though they are much larger than the upper lateral teeth and project 

 beyond the lip. The minute teeth of the lower jaw are restricted to 

 a very small and not crowded cluster near the symphysis. A por- 

 tion of the vomer which remains, and the edge of the anterior half 

 of the palate bone, show a few microscopical teeth just protruding 

 from the bone, which is however roughened by minute pits, appa- 

 rently the sockets of teeth which have dropped out. The soft parts 

 are entirely gone. 



