SCALES OF SOME AUSTRALIAN FISHES.— COCKERELL. 
45 
SIGANID^E* 
Although no Siganidse are included in the collection from the Queensland 
Museum, I take occasion to record that the minute (1 mm. long or less) scales 
of Siganus javiis (Cavite, Philippine Is.; Geo. A, Lung, U. S. Nat. Mus.) are 
elongate-oval, with the nucleus near the beginning of the basal third; circuli fine 
and perfectly regular; margin simple; no traces of radii or ctenoid elements. 
There is thus no resemblance whatever to the Clmdodontidse, Platackte, Ephip- 
pidse, or Scorpididse. 
SCOPPIDIDiE. 
Monodactylus argenteus L. Queensland. Scales quadrate, about 2^-3^ 
mm. diameter; nucleus subapical, just below ctenoid patch; basal radii one or 
two, usually very close together, sometimes rudiments of others; ctenoid patch 
large, but the elements very small and weak, marginal teeth extremely small; 
circuli fine, the uppermost lateral almost completely transverse, the lower lateral 
oblique, not vertical. (The lateral circuli are completely vertical in Platax and 
Microcanthxis ) . 
This is quite distinct from the other families discussed above. 
GOBIID^. 
Krefftius australis Krefft. Queensland. Scales about 5-6 mm. broad 
and 4^-5 long; of the usual form for the family; a single row of sharp teeth on 
apical margin, small in the middle, long at the sides; basal radii about 16 to 18. 
Latinucleate scales have ail the teeth large. Compared with Eypseleoiris com- 
pressus, these scales are larger, and not so broad in proportion to their length; 
but the structure is esstmtially the same. Gobiid scales are very uniform ail 
over the world, differing only in minor characters. Thus Chonophorus nelsoni 
(Eio Cuiebra, Panama ; Meek and Hildebrand) has the scales longer than broad, 
with only 6 to 9 l)asal radii. The lateral circiili also are much less numerous 
than in Krefftius australis. 
PTEROPSAEID^. 
Parapercis cylindrica Bloch. Darnley Island. Scales about 2-2^ mm. 
diameter, quadrate, or longer than broad, the sides parallel, or diverging basally ; 
about 7 to 13 basal radii, arranged fanwise; basal margin scalloped; basal circuli 
very dense ; lateral circuli widely spaced, completely vertical ; ctenoid patch 
large, the marginal teeth large and sharp, the submarginal elements mostly about 
as long as broad. Other scales of this species, from a different locality (pre- 
sumably), were described in my former paper. Authors refer the genus to the 
Nototheniidic, or to the Leptoscopidae. 
