BA TRACK01DIDJE OF QUEENSLAND. 
45 
but on this point no definite information is at present available. I 
have had the opportunity on three occasions of examining females in 
which the ova were fully matured, and improved the occasion by 
ascertaining the number and dimensions of the eggs ; these are con- 
tained in a pair of oval sacs formed of delicate and transparent 
but strong tough and elastic tissue. In my first specimen (a), 
a Batrachomoeus minor, caught in May, length 186 millim., the left 
ovary carried G2 eg^s measuring from 3"5 to 5 millim. each; in (b), 
a Coryzichthys diemensis of 146 millim. in length, the right ovary 
contained 45 eggs with a size of from 15 to 5 millim. apiece ; while 
the numbers in both ovaries of (c) — same species, length 160 millim. 
was 35 + 39 = 74, measuring from 5 5 to 6 5 millim. ; unfortunately 
no record of the date of capture is available in these two latter 
cases. In all three the em eloping skin was intact, proving that the 
full complement of ova were still in situ. The voracity of these 
fishes may be conceived from the fact that a specimen of Batrachomoeus 
minor in my possession had swallowed an octopus of so large a size 
that two of the arms were protruding fully an inch from its mouth, 
nevertheless this did not deter it from taking a prawn bait, and 
thereby paying the penalty of its gluttony. Thirty-five valid 
species distributed among ten genera are recognized in this review ; 
of these no less than seven genera and twenty-one species are con- 
fined to American waters,* and it is a remarkable fact that the 
number of soft dorsal and anal rays and of vertebra? found in the 
New World forms invariably exceeds those which obtain in the Old 
World fishes. Three of the American genera — Thalassophryne, 
Deed or, and Thalassothia are of special interest. In the seven 
species which represent them the opercular and dorsal spines are 
perforated bv a canal, having a basal and subterminal aperture, such 
as is the case among the viperine snakes ; opposite the basal aperture 
of each spine lies a venom sac so arranged that the slightest pressure 
on the tip causes the poison to spurt forth into the wound inflicted 
thereby. Although the results of the poison are frequently severe 
I am not aware of any accident so received terminating fatally. 
The frog-fishes are chiefly taken by hook and line, fish-trap, or seine 
net. 
* The sole exception to this general rule occurs in the case of the West African 
Batrachus liberiensis Steindachner. Though I am unacquainted with the descrip- 
tion of this species I would have placed it unhesitatingly in my proposed genus 
Halobatrachus (vide Key infra), if it were not for the following remark of Dr. 
Giinther (Zool. Rec, iv, 1867, Pise. p. 164). — li Batrachus pacifici appears to occur also 
in the Atlantic, as it has been described from a West African example as a new 
species B. liberiensis by Dr. Steindachner." On this account I am forced to include 
the species in the American genus Batrachoides, characterised among other things 
by the absence of an axillary pore. 
