5 Pisces. 
PISCES. 
Castelnau founds a new genus, and probably a new family, on a specimen 
of Ganoid fish allied to Atractosteus which had been eaten for breakfast btj 
a Mr. Staiger, and all the characters of which are gathered from a draw- 
ing made after and not before the repast. Ho designates it, “ in the 
present state of our knowledge of this fish, by the mysterious historical 
name of Ompax.” In the present state of our knowledge, the Recorder 
thinks he would be scarcely justified in admitting Ompax spatuloides, sp. n., 
into the system. 
In a paper on the Clupeidce of Australia, W. Macleay enumerates and 
notices all the species which he has been able to observe or which rest on 
the authority of Castelnau. He gives his views as to the identification of 
these species, for which the paper may be consulted, and describes one 
new species. P. Linn. Soc. N. S, W. iv. pp. 363-384. 
Additions to the fauna of Southern Australia by Steindachner, Denk. 
Ak. Berl. xli. Abth, i. pp. 1-15, pis. ix., New Zealand. 
New Zealand. 
Thomson,?. Concluding notes on the Dunedin Fish supply. Tr. N. Z. 
Inst. xi. pp. 380-386. 
Polynesia. 
On the Polynesian Scaridcc. Steindachner, in the above-cited 
memoir, Denk. Ak. Wien, xli. Abth. i. pp. 16-20. 
W. Macleay mentions some fishes from the Solomon Islands, and 
describes a Mesoprion. P. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. iv. pp. 60-64. 
The Cestraciontidce of the Pacific. See infra, p. 8, Chondropterygii. 
North America. 
Report of U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, v., for 1877. 
Washington; 1879, large 8vo, 981 pp. Consists of, a., Inquiry into the 
decrease of food-fishes, b. The propagation of the food-fishes in the 
waters of the United States. Some of the sections which are of Ichthyo- 
logical interest will be referred to below. 
Jefferson, J. On the mortality of Fishes in the Gulf of Mexico. 
P. U. S. Nat. Mus. i. pp. 363 & 364. 
, Porter, J., & Moore, T. On the Destruction of Fish in the 
vicinity of the Tortugas during September and October, 1878. L. c. 
pp. 244-246. 
Jordan, in Notes on a Collection from Clackamas River, Oregon, 
describes in full several species of Salmonidce and Cyprinidoi which were 
imperfectly known. P. U. S. Nat. Mus. i. pp. 69-85. 
Jordan, — , & Gilbert, — . A Synopsis of the Fishes of Beaufort 
Harbour, North Carolina. P. U. S. Nat. Mus. i. pp. 365-388. 
Notices of 50 species of East Coast Fishes ; a brief summary of recent 
coast investigations of the U. S. Fish Commission. Some species are not 
yet identified. Descriptions of the new species are in many cases with- 
