214 



Dr. Richardson's Contributions to 



miniata?, subtes3ellata3 maculis serialibus majoribus ; exterioribus 

 nigricantibus. Pinnae ventrales et analis pallida?, adspcrsae maculis 

 rubris, in pinna anali majoribus. Pinna caudalis maculis subseria- 

 libus majoribus ornata, postice aurantiaca." (Solander.) 



Another New Zealand Scorpama is noticed in Solander's 

 e Pisces Australian but as he describes merely its colours, and 

 there is no drawing of it extant, nothing is known of its form. 

 He designates it Scorpama plebeia, probably from the contrast 

 which its duller general tints make with his cardinalis, and 

 describes its colours as follows : — 



" ScorPjEna plebeia. Piscis dilute e cinereo virescens, nebulis 

 fuscescentibus. Caput infra, pectus et abdomen albida, cum paux- 

 illo rubedinis. Iris e griseo argentea, nebulis fuscis. Pupilia nigra. 

 Pinna dorsalis colore dorsi, apice rubicunda. Radii partis posteriori* 

 albido et purpureo pallide annulati. Pinnae pectorales e rubicundo 

 et flavescenti pulcbre tessellatae, area prope basin altius colorata. 

 Pinnae ventrales saturate et vivide incarnatae, in medio alba?. Pinna 

 analis ex albido incarnata, nebulis pallide violaceis. Pinna caudalis 

 rubicunda, maculis fuscis subfasciata. Habitat Tolaga." (Lat. 38j° 

 S., long. 181£° W.) 



Considerable variety exists in the extent to which the scales 

 spread over the head in the Scorpama;. Cuvier says, c: a peine 

 voit-on sur les individus desseches quelques petites ecailles 

 sur le derriere du crane et le haut de l'opercule. II existe 

 d'autres poissons (les Sebastes) de cette famille, dont la tete 

 moins herissee, a des ecailles sur toutes ses parties ; au mu- 

 seau, au maxillaire, a la joue, et a toutes les pieces opercu- 

 4aires; en sorte qu'ils se rapprochent de plusieurs perches a 

 dorsale unique." The want of the temporal ridge and its 

 spines is the only positive character of those here mentioned 

 which I have observed on comparing the Scorp&na and Se- 

 bastes, which serves to distinguish the latter. The Scorpce?ia 

 Nova Guinea, Voy. Astrolabe, pi. 12. f. 1, has the whole cheek 

 and gill-cover just as scaly as the Sebastes Capensis, fig. 5 of 

 the same plate. The Scorpcena bvfo (of which a specimen 

 exists in the Haslar Museum well characterized by its den- 

 tated nasal spines, and the white drops in the axilla of the 

 pectoral) has the cheek entirely covered with scales nearly 

 as large as those on the body, and also patches of scales on 

 the gill-cover. The Van Diemen's Land Scorpcena miles, de- 

 scribed by me in a paper read before the Zoological Society in 

 June 1839, has many scales on the head, but otherwise is very 

 similar in form to porcus, which has the same parts naked. 

 These scales are concealed by the spongy integument of the 

 recent fish, and may have been overlooked if they actually 

 existed in the following species drawn by Lieut. Emery. 



