THE SCALES OF SOME QUEENSLAND FISHES— COCKEBELL. 
51 
THE SCALES OF SOME QUEENSLAND 
FISHES. 
By T. D. A. Cockerell, University of Colorado. 
I am greatly indebted to Dr. B. Ilamlyn-IIarris for a very interesting series 
of scales of the fishes of Queensland. They not only belong to species, the scales of 
which have not been studied according to the methods of modern lepidology, but 
they are of interest as enabling us to see whether the fishes of the Southern 
Hemisphere differ markedly in scale characters from their allies in the North. 
OSTEOGLOSSIDJE. 
Scleropages leichardti Gunther. The large scales are reticulated and have 
beaded circuli, in the typical Osteoglossid manner. The structure of the scale is 
quite the same in S. leichardti from Queensland, S. formosus from Borneo, and 
Ostcoglossum Iricirromm from Brazil, notwithstanding the wide geographical 
separation of these fishes. ( See also Science, May 26, 1911, p. 831.) 
IIEMIBHAMPHIDiE. 
The scales in this family are much broader than long; nucleus central or 
nearly; apical margin simple; basal margin frequently lobulate; apical field 
covered with very fine and dense transverse circuli ; basal half of scale with much 
more widely spaced circuli, which bend upwards laterally, and meet the circuli of 
the series above the nucleus, forming angles (often very acute angles) with them. 
Two or three basal radii are nearly always developed. 
The Queensland species may be separated thus : — 
Scales (which have a transverse diameter of 12 mm. or over) 
with very prominent basal lobes . . . . . . Hemirha?nphus jar Forskal. 
Scales without such basal lobes , . . . . . . . 1. 
1. Scales with the circuli of the upper and lower halves 
regularly meeting at sides, forming acute angles . . Hemirhamphus quoyi Cuv. & Val. 
Scales with the circuli of the upper and lower halves not 
regularly meeting, usually separated at sides by a 
space free from circuli Hemirhamphus regularis Gunther. 
One of the II. quoyi scales, apparently from the lateral line, has a large 
obtuse apical lobe. The species are not separated by very marked characters, and 
probably intermediate scales will be found. Indeed, the constancy of the type is 
shown by the fact that Ilyporliamphus unifasciatus, from Woods Hole, Mass. 
