| OCR Text |
Show 156 MR. J. D. OGILBY O N FISHES [Mar. 19, bifid ; there is also an occipital ridge armed with three strong spines, and a temporal ridge with four, the last of which marks the commencement of the lateral line, and between these two rows there is a single small spine posteriorly; beneath the infraorbital groove there is a spinate ridge terminating in the upper preopercular spine, and the clavicle bears a strong compressed spine pointing upwards and backwards. Teeth-both jaws are furnished with bands of villiform teeth, the inner row of which is much enlarged, especially on the mandible ; there is an obtusely angular band of villiform teeth on the vomer, and a narrow band, reaching as far back as the angle of the mouth, on the palatines. Fins-the dorsal fin commences either opposite to or rather in front of the middle of the opercle ; its spines are acute and moderately strong, the fourth the longest, but little longer than the third and fifth, and from twice and one third to twice and four fifths in the length of the head ; the dorsal rays are subequal in height to the spines, while those of the anal are much longer : the anal fin commences beneath the first dorsal ray and ends beneath the eighth ; its second spine is much stronger and longer than the third, and is equal to, or not much shorter than, the longest dorsal spine. The ventral fin is rounded, and reaches to, or a little beyond, the vent, and is five ninths of the length of the head; the pectoral fin is rounded, and reaches to beneath the base of the last dorsal spine ; the two upper simple rays are subequal and longest, from two thirds to four sevenths of the length of the head ; the caudal fin is slightly rounded, from two ninths to one fifth of the total length. The scales are of small size, and there is an elongate patch of rather smaller ones extending from between the two lower opercular spines to the tip of the flapl. The lateral line bends abruptly downwards from its origin to beneath the middle of the spinous dorsal, behind which the curve is very gradual. The colours are similar to those in the figure given by Dr. Giinther. In the ' Journal des Museum Godeffroy ' (Bd. ii. p. 78, Taf. 55), Dr. Giinther describes as new and figures a species of Scorpeena, under the name of S. cookii, from a British Museum example originally brought from Raoul Island, an outlying rock in the Pacific belonging to the Kermadec Group ; he mentions, however, that a fish obtained by Mr. Garrett from the Sandwich Islands is probably of the same species. During the month of September 1887, Messrs. Etheridge, Whitelegge, and Thorpe were sent by the Australian Museum, Sydney, to Lord Howe Island, where they spent three weeks, and, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather during their stay, brought back, among other spoils, a small but valuable collection of fishes. Amongst these were eight specimens of a Scorpeena, which was distinguishable at a glance from the common Port Jackson forms, S. cruenta and S. cardinalis, and which I take to be Dr. Giinther's species. Having therefore a good working series of specimens measuring from eight to over twelve inches in length, 1 Neither this patch of scales nor the anterior curvature of the lateral line is shown in Dr. Gunther's otherwise excellent figure. |
