RECORDS OF IV. A. MUSEUM. 
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the spines and margins of the bones; in others from Murray Island, 
Torres Strait, all but the nasal tentacles are wanting. The first 
represents the form named bynoensis, while the others agree with 
laotale, of which I have examined a co-type, but as my series exhibits 
every stage between the two, the latter must be regarded merely as 
a variety of the former. 
Of the thirty-two specimens, one has thirteen spines and nine 
dorsal rays, another eleven spines and ten rays, while all the rest 
have twelve spines and ten rays. The length of the posterior spine 
is variable, while the colour may be anything from ashy grey to 
brilliant brown and white, though the characteristic colour pattern 
is always more or less maintained. 
My specimens come from Dunk Island and Green Island near 
Cairns, Queensland ; Murray Island, Torres Strait ; Mapoon, Gulf 
of Carpentaria ; Port Darwin and Western Australia. 
I regard the New South Wales and New Zealand records of 
this species as very probably incorrect since it is an inhabitant of 
coral reefs, etc., and is doubtless confined to the tropics. Gunther’s 
association of .S', jacksoniensis, Steindachner, with bynoensis seems to 
have been the cause of its first inclusion in the New South Wales 
lists, but this is shown to be incorrect (see ante). Ogilby included 
it in his Edible Fishes of N. S- Wales , 1 2 but as there are no local 
specimens in the collection of the Museum, and as Mr. Stead in- 
forms me that he has not seen any specimens in the markets, I 
think its occurrence here needs verification. 
S. bellicosa, Castelnau , 5 from Nicol Bay, Western Australia, and 
Queensland is apparently very similar to X bynoensis, but is described 
as having prominent interorbital ridges, whereas they are low in 
Richardson’s species Castelnau’s specimens may have been dried, 
as were many others in his collection, in which case the flesh 
shrinking from the bones would matke the ridges appear more prom- 
inent, so that this difference is probably of little importance. 
1 Ogilby, Edible Fish, N, S. Wales, 1893, p. 65. 
2 Castelnau, Res. Fish., Austr. (Viet. Offic. Rec. Philad. Exhib.), 1875, p. 17. 
