12 
NOTES OF THE EDIBLE FISHES OF VICTORIA. 
Mediterranean (Sv. AquiJa), aiul that lu; eonsiders tliem as 
similar; this may be tlie case, bnt tlie description given of tliat 
sort by all tbe anthm-s does not a])])ly to onr fish, and in |)articnlar 
they all say that the np]ier jaw is longer than the otliei’, when 
in the Australian sort tlui lower is sensibly the longest. At the 
Cape <>f Good Hope veiy munerous specimens are found, winch 
Dr. Cnniher considers as belonging to the Kumpean species. In 
that colony young individuals are very common in the warm 
months, and old ones in the Antarctic winter; the first are only 
eaten fresh, and the huge ones l)eing hard and dry are salted like 
cod, and exported to the Mauritius. 
The family of TuicinriniLE contains ono(T the principal edible 
tishe.s, the Barmcnfa or TlijjrAte..H Atnu, which is also very com- 
mon at the Ca]>e of Good Ho]>e. 
ScoMBRio.E here, as in almost all seas, have several re]>re- 
sentatives highly esteemed for the ta.l>le. I’he rnddxen-l of these 
seas (Bc.oviher A dUfrdh'ds) is the first, and T'etjuires a ])aj'ticular 
notice. It has an air-bladder, Imt differs from P'aevmotophords 
by the small, irregular, very numerous ]uinctiform dark spots, 
which cover all the lower ])arts of the Isrly ; this chai’actcu’ 
would briiifif it to and it is still nearer allied to this sort 
by the [)ectoral region being covered with scales considerably 
larger than the others, but the large, dark, round spots wdiich 
form one or two longitudinal series on the sides do not a})]>ear 
to be present in the Mediterranean sort, ami in this the abdominal 
s])ots are stated to be /rrc/ya/ac, veitcdlaieA, dark lines. 
Di\ Gunther gives also to this sort (co/hes) a very different 
munber of tin rays — D. 7-1-12; A. 1-1-12; but 1 must observe 
that Cuvier and Yaleneiennes do not appear to have found any 
difference, on this prunt, between tlie aiflas and the common 
mackerel. Tlisso also gives it similar numbers, bnt lie seems to 
have confounded it with Fneumatophoras. 
It is thus evident that Aatiird.unis cannot be AvstTalasicus 
nor Pfiffnuatophoras, but may jiossibly be ct flats, if we supjiose 
that Dr. Guntlicr’s description is erroneous. I must observe that 
all authors describe the Kuropean dcomhers as liaving the scales 
forming their lateral line larger tlian the otliers, which is not the 
case witli the Australian species. Dr. Gnntlier considers Sc. (jrex 
of Mitchell and Cuvier as being the same as Paeumadophovus, 
and this sort, which I have observed in great quantities at tlie 
Cape of Good Ho]>e, is a very different fish from A aiardnuis. 
1 believe that the South Australian sea has two species of 
mackerel, who stand to each other in the same sort of relationship 
as Sc. Scnmlfer ami Sc. I* ftfax'iftafnpitorns do in the Mediterra- 
nean, but are both s])ecitically diffei'Ciit from the European ones; 
these are AydralasicAiH witlumt an air-hlarlder, and Anlavdlctts 
