152 
MEMOIRS OF TEE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
and forms an intensely black band which starts at the anus, covers the visceral 
cavity and the operculum, and extends past the eye on to the nape of the head. 
Posterior to this band there is no pigment on the body or fins. Also anterior 
to it is a small, unpigmented area around the maxillary and mandibular 
regions. 
The smallest postlarva collected in the seine net was one of several that 
were netted on a sandy bottom near the mouth of the Noosa River on 
October 13th, 1944. It measures 12-5 millimetres and is illustrated in text 
fig. 8A. The opercular spine is quite prominent and a thick coating of dermal 
spines, each longer than those of S. hamiltoni, is present on the belly and cheek 
regions. The fin formula is typical of this species, being D. 10; A. 8; P. 15. 
B. 
Del. I. S. R. Munro 
Text-tig. 8. — 
A. — Post-larval Spheroides pleuro gramma (Regan). From a specimen 12.5 mm. 
long. 
B. — Post-larval Spheroides hamiltoni (Richardson). From a specimen 10.5 mm. 
long. 
The pigmentation pattern already foreshadows that characteristic of adults. 
The back is covered with large numbers of small, blackish cells arranged in 
dense groups alternating with more lightly pigmented areas. This dorsal 
network soon begins to assume the appearance of irregular white spots on a 
ground of darker brown colour. The dark, longitudinal, side stripe of the 
adult pattern is already present. The more anterior of the two dark, dorsally 
transverse cross-bands is present in the form of a thick cluster of large cells 
above the origins of the pectoral fins. Another concentration of large cells 
behind the eye precedes the development of the five or six subvertical dark 
cheek stripes. 
