20 
NEW OB LITTLE KNOWN FISHES 
length of the body : caudal peduncle long and strong, its length 6f r 
its least depth f\ in the length of the body. Pectoral inserted 
nearer to the dorsal than to the ventral profile, with 16 rays, the 4th. 
the longest, reaching to the 8th. body-scale and 5f in the length of 
the body, space between its tip and the origin of the spinous dorsal 
■f of its length. Ventral inserted a little nearer to the anal than to 
the tip of the mandible, and below the middle 3rd. of the pectoral, 
its lengih If in the head. Scales of preorbitals cycloid, of cheeks 
and lower surfaces finely ciliated ; scales in 6 series between the eye 
and the angle of the interopercle, two of which are on that boue ; 
18 scales in front of the spinous dorsal; 9 scales in an oblique 
series from the origin of the soft dorsal to far behind the anal. Gill- 
rakers 61 on the lower branch of the anterior arch, the longest f of 
the diameter of the eye. Greenish brown above, lighter on the sides 
and below ; tips of caudal rays dusky. [Named for Mr. James 
Hirst Stevens, Inspector of Fisheries for the State of Queensland]. 
Length [of type] to tip of middle caudal rays 165 millimeters. 
Type in the Queensland Museum. 
Gold Island, Rockingham Bay. 
Nothing is known of the habits of this mullet, the only speci- 
men having been collected many years ago by Mr. Kendall Broad- 
bent ; it is in very bad condition, parts of all the soft fins being 
broken off and the head injured ; the salient characters are, however, 
sufficiently preserved to enable us to see at a glance that nothing 
resembling it has hitherto been recorded from Australian seas and to 
draw np the above description. Notwithstanding that the type was 
obtained in the open bay its habit and affinities all point to this 
being a small estuarine or even fresh-water species, and we are, 
therefore, inclined to think that specimens would be more easily 
procurable in the Herbert River than at Gold Island. 
The nearest ally of this mullet is the fish described and'figured 
by Day # as Mugil dussumieri, the distribution of which is given as 
"Seas of India, entering fresh water."' From the wording of his 
remarks below the descriptions of both that fish and M. subviridis 
we may infer that Day examined the types of both species in the 
Paris Museum. This was undoubtedly necessary for if we were 
obliged to rely on the respective descriptions alone we would never 
have dreamt of associating the M. dussumieri of Day with the fish 
described under the same name by Valenciennes as having " the 
snout compressed and wedge-shaped ; the preorbital keeled and 
folded upon itself ; and the anterior adipose eyelid larger than the 
Fish. India, p. 352, pi. lxxiv, fig. 4, 1870. 
