04 
MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
Small fishes from the seas of Australia and Southern New Guinea, occurring 
sporadically. Nothing is known as to the habits, breeding, food, and bathymetric 
distribution of this remarkable fish, which, so far as our present knowledge goes, 
appears to visit our shores only at long and irregular intervals. From its form, den- 
tition, the normal size of the eyes, etc., coupled with the fact that, though captured 
near the shore, none of the specimens which have fallen into expert hands exhibit 
any signs of breeding, one might incline to the opinion that these fishes arc pelagic, 
habitually inhabiting the open sea near the surface. The capture, however, by the 
Bevan expedition of a specimen well up the waterway of the Aird River, British New 
Guinea, apparently demolishes the pelagic theory, while supporting that of the 
surface-swimming, since the example in question jumped into the boat of its own 
accord. 
Two species have been described as belonging to the genus Leptobrama, but 
a more extended acquaintance with these fishes shows that the differences are either 
individual or sexual, probably the latter. 
LEPTOBRAMA MULLERI Steindachner. 
Leptobrama mulleri Steindachner, Sitzb. Akad. Wien, lxxviii, i, 1878, p. 388 : Coast of Queens- 
land — id., Denks. Akad. Wien, xli, i, 1879, pi. iii, figs. 1 to lc — Klunzinger, Sitzb. Akad. 
Wien, lxxx, i, 1879, p. 381. 
Neopempheris Ramsayi Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, v, 1881, p. 517, pi. xiv : Rocking- 
ham Bay, Q. 
Neopempheris pectoralia Ramsay & Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, xii, 1887, p. 563 : Aird 
River, B.N.G. 
(Plates XVIII, XIX.) 
Depth of body 2-85 to 3-3, length of head 4*33 to 4*5, of caudal fin 3*8 to 4T5, 
of pectoral 4-95 to 5-45, of ventral 8-15 to 8-6 in length of body. Length of snout 4-5 
to 5T5, diameter of eye 3-7 to 4-25, width of interorbit 3*75 to 4-55, length of maxillary 
1-5 to 1-7, longest dorsal ray 1-2 to 1*33, longest anal 1-25 to 1-35 in length of head. 
Ventral contour of body somewhat less to somewhat more arched than the 
dorsal, which is gently rounded or linear and feebly acclivous between the forehead 
and the dorsal fin ; width of body 2*95 to 3-6 in its depth, which is greatest imme- 
diately in front of the anal fin and -33 to -5 more than the length of the head : caudal 
peduncle *3 to -45 longer than deep, its least depth 3-1 to 3*25 in the depth of the 
body. Width of head 1*85 to 2*05, depth of head 1-15 to 1*25 in its length. Snout 
with rounded profile, its length 1*1 to 1*4 in the eye-diameter, the two combined 1*15 
to 1*45 in the postorbital portion of the head ; interorbital region strongly convex, 
its width from one tenth more to one fifth less than the eye-diameter ; adipose lid 
extending well on the snout and the postorbital region, but not quite reaching the 
