the Ichthyology of Australia, 



391 



being that the latter has the caudal shortly swallow-tailed, 

 while in melanostolus that fin has a shallow crescentic mar- 

 gin with the angles slightly rounded. In colours it approaches 

 most nearly to the Amph. xanthurus (C. and V., v. p. 402), 

 which is swallow-tailed like the Chinese one. 



The three vertical bands of melanostolus are white ; the head, body 

 and fins, the caudal and pectoral excepted, are black. The first vertical 

 band descends from before the dorsal, nearly touches the eye, and 

 dilates so as to take in the whole gill- cover and the cheek nearly to 

 the mouth ; it is then continued downwards to join its fellow on the 

 under surface of the head. The^ posterior edge of the gill-cover is 

 fawn-coloured, but the breast is black like the rest of the body. The 

 second band begins by a triangular tip on the three or four first 

 jointed rays of the dorsal, is moderately broad, and terminates on the 

 belly immediately before the anal. The base of the pectoral is black, 

 the rest of it primrose-yellow. The caudal is of a paler yellow tint, 

 and a narrow oblique white band, broadest above, separates it from 

 the black tail. The soft dorsal has a narrow yellow border. 



The individual from which the drawing was made measured two 

 inches and three-quarters in length. 



Amphiprion ? rubrocinctus (Nob.), Red-banded Amphi- 

 prion ? 



No. 25. Lieut. Emery's drawings. e 



This fish, judging merely from its general form and the dis- 

 tribution of its vertical bands, is also an Amphiprion, though 

 probably, from the minuteness of the specimen, the drawing 

 does not distinctly show the peculiar form and armature of 

 the preoperculum and gill-cover. The length of the indivi- 

 dual, which was captured at Depuch Island, was an inch and 

 a quarter. 



The head is covered with scales, the depression of the dorsal at 

 the junction of its spinous and jointed portions is very slight, and 

 the caudal fin is much rounded, like that of bifasciatus. The mouth 

 is lower down than that of melanostolus or Clarckii, and opens di- 

 rectly forwards, the snout is obtuse and fully as long as the lower 

 jaw, and the profile from the mouth to the dorsal is boldly arched. 



The body is black ; the under jaw, throat and breast, the distal 

 half of the tail, and all the fins are vermilion-red. The bars are 

 white : the nuchal one, which is the widest of the three, narrows 

 gradually as it descends ; the middle one begins by an angular point 

 at the commencement of the soft dorsal, is narrow throughout, is 

 curved boldly, with the concavity towards the tail, and terminates 

 at the anus. The third bar, which is also narrow, encircles the tail, 

 separating the red base and membrane of the caudal from the black 

 of the body. In Lieutenant Emery's figures of this and the preceding 

 species, the spinous rays of the dorsal are represented as exceeding 

 ten, the usual number in the genus. 



