EEVIEW OF THE QUEENSLAND FOUACANTKINM.—OGILBY. 
99 
REVIEW OF THE QUEENSLAND 
POMACANTHINAE. 
By J. Douglas Ogilby. 
The Fomacanlkinni may be briefly diagnosed as '^eluetodoutoid fishes 
furnislied with a strong spine at the angle of the preopercle.” 
The genus Ilolacanikus LaeepWe eomprises a niunber of species varying 
greatly inter se. It is not, therefore, surprising that authors have made several 
attempts to split the genus into sections of more or less doubtful value. Swain- 
son fiz‘st pro])osed to separate H. lamarckii LaeeiJCMle under the name (j-enicanihiis, 
but this was (iuit(^ uiine(H>.ssary, that species l)eing absolutely congeneric with 
Lacepede's ty]»e JI. tricnlor, as that author re(*ognized by phudng the two in 
his ''pri'niier sous-genre.^’ Kaup next proposed the genus Centropyge, with 
H. tihlc.en Cuvier & Vahmciennes as its type, under the erroneous impression that 
the species possessed four anal spines; otherw'ise being similar to Holacantlius, 
it too becomes a synonym of that genus. Bleeker then, in 1877, made a more 
valuable contribution to the literature of the genus by dividing it into three — 
CluetodonfopluSf HoJacanfJius. and Arafithoclufiodon, The three principal 
characters relied on in support of his views are — the amount of attachment 
between th(^ gill-membranes and the isthmus, the form of the body, and the size 
of the s('ales. The two first show such wide divergence as to be unreliable, and 
so becoim* negligil)U‘ as factors in the subdivision of tlie genus, but in my opinion 
the third may well be utilised for that pur]M)s(‘, as indeed had been partly done 
by Giintlier many years previously for the sectional separation of the species. 
Angelichflijjs Jordan & Evermann, having as its type the Cluetodon ciliaris 
of Linnanis. does not seem to reciuire recognition. 
The ])resent review deals with seven species, only that number having 
been as yet recorded from owr coast ; there are, however, at least five other 
Indo-Pacific species which should eventually be found in Queensland seas; these 
are printed in italics in the accompanying list. 
Holacantuus flavissimus Cuvier & Valenciennes. 
mcoLOR Bloch. 
,, SEXSTRIATUS Kulil & Van ITasselt. 
,, ] OPERATOR Bloch. 
,, SEAiiciRCTTLATUs Cuvier & Valenciennes. 
hispinosns Gunther. Amboina to Tahiti. 
