ON THE GENUS " GONORRHYNCHUS " (GRONOVlUS). 33 
Coasts of South Africa ; Bourbon ; St. Paul Island ; New- 
Zealand, Tasmania, Temperate Australia, Lord Howe Island, and 
Japan. 
Small fishes, habitually frequenting sandy flats in shallow water, 
though sometimes taken at considerable depths ; feeding on small 
mollusks, crustaceans, annelids, and the like ; these they obtain by 
burrowing, the formation of the snout, combined with the conical 
head and elongate fusiform body, being eminently fitted for 
facilitating their passage through so dense a medium as sand ; while 
the mobile cartilaginous snout forms an admirable tactile organ by 
which to locate its prey. The flesh is said to be firm and white, 
and of excellent quality. 
I give below a synopsis of the species into which I propose to 
separate the remarkable fish which has of recent years been most 
commonly known as Gonorhynchus greyi. In making this division 
I have been chiefly guided by characters which must be regarded as 
structural, and cannot therefore be affected by the age of the 
individual. 
1. GONORRYNCHUS ABBREVIATES Schlegel. 
Gonorhynchus abbreviates Schlegel, Faun. Japon., p. 217, pi. ciii, fig. 5,1840 : 
Nagasaki— Jordan Snyder, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., xxxi, 1907, p. 643, 
fig. 5 : Yokohama. 
Length of head 4 40 in that of the body ; dorsal fin inserted 
posteriorly, the space between its origin and the root of the caudal 
250 in its distance from the tip of the snout ; eight anal rays ; 
pectoral very large, its length 2 '35 in its distance from the ventral. 
Seas of Southern Japan. 
2. GONORRYNCHTJS GONORYNCHUS (Linnaeus). 
Gonorrynchus Gronovius, Zoophyl., No. 199, pi. x, fig. 2, 1763. 
Cyprinus gonorynchus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, i, p. 528, 1766: Cape of 
Good Hope— Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i., p. 1422, 1788— Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 
p. 443, pi. lxxviii, fig. 1, 1801— Lacepede, Poiss., v, p. 570, 1803. 
Gonorhynchus gronovii Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., p. 207, 
pi. dlxviii, 1846 : Bourbon. 
Cobitis gonorynchus (Gronow) Gray, Catal., p. 41, 1854. 
Gonorhynchus brevis Kner, Reise Novara, Fisch. p. 342, pi. xvi, fig. 1, 1867 : 
Island of St. Paul. 
C 
