198 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 
Pectoral broad, longer than the eye : no filamentary caudal. Dorsal 
and anal fins indistinct, better defined posteriorly. Translucent; 
small black spots form a band on the nape and a similar one on 
the throat. 
Total length 
Height of body... 
Length of head... 
,, snout 
200 mm. 
13 „ 
15 „ 
4 „ 
Aulostomus chinensis, Linnaeus . 
Mr. T. R. Icely obtained a nice example in December, 1892. It 
measures 560 mm. in length, and has the following characters : — 
D. xii. 25. A. 25. P.16. V. 6. C. 15 + 2. 
Length of head 3*2, height of body 11*0 in the total length, 
exclusive of caudal. Eye 3’0 in the postorbital part of the head. 
Lower jaw prominent, with the barbel one-half longer than the 
diameter of the eye. Premaxillary slender ; maxillary narrow 
anteriorly, greatly broadened behind, its posterior margin notched. 
Upper jaw edentulus ; lower jaw with a small patch of minute 
teeth in each ramus. Caudal pedicle equal in length to the dis- 
tance of the posterior margin of the opercle from the centre of 
the eye. Ventrals short, equal to the least depth of the snout; 
they extend to the vent, which is situated midway between the 
hinder edge of the opercle and the base of the caudal rays. 
When freshly obtained, the colour was pink and the fins yellow. 
The body is longitudinally streaked, the streaks disposed both 
above and below the lateral line ; there is a deep black bar across 
the centre of the maxillary, and a narrower one passing through 
the nostrils to the eye ; a black spot at the base of each ventral 
fin, and another on the upper caudal rays. The bases of the 
dorsal and anal fins are black, and this colour is continued up the 
front margin of the dorsal ; the portion of the body between these 
fins is very dark, relieved by two of the white body streaks in a 
line with the upper and lower margins of the caudal pedicel, each 
streak with two ganglion-like spots; two similar but fainter spots 
exist at the bases of the fins. There are also three pairs of spots 
on the pedicel, forming transverse bands. 
Drs. Jordan and Evermann, in describing the family Aulo- 
stomidse, write*: — “A single genus, with two species, found in 
tropical seas.” This should surely read “three species,” for they 
mention A. maculalus and A. cinereus , neither of which is synony- 
mous with A. chinensis , admitted as the type of the genus. 
* Jordan and Evermann— Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus.,47, 1896, p. 754. 
