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Show 1906.] THE SKULL OF A YOUNG RIBBON-FISII. 545 Parker (3) dealt so fully with the various accounts of the specimens captured on the coasts of New Zealand and Australia, that it is needless for me to repeat the record. But since he wrote his second article in 1888, additional specimens have been recorded and described by Forbes (5), by Drew (7), and by Clarke (8), the last being a quite perfect individual, with the pectoral fins still uninjured, and the article is illustrated by a good figure of the entire fish. Finally, a couple of years ago, a large specimen was reported to me as having been thrown on shore near the entrance to the Otago Harbour, but while my informant was engaged in telephoning to the Museum, to arrange for its despatch to me, the usual fate, in the form of boys and stones and sticks, awaited the rarity: so that by the time my informant returned to the shore the fish was so damaged as to be valueless. We thus have records of more than a dozen of these rare fishes having been obtained in these seas within the last 50 years; and the majority on the coast of the South Island. Of these all but one have been apparently nearly or quite full-grown, reaching a length of from 12 to 18 feet, Drew's specimen being only 7 feet 4^ inches. Judging, however, from his other measurements, it appears probable that a part of the posterior end was missing : he says, " the fish ended abruptly with thick rounded end, and there were no spines at the caudal end." He does not state the height of this truncated extremity, and we are left in doubt as to how much is missing. It is, however, to the markings on " R. parkeri " that I would draw attention. It will be remembered that one of the most striking differences in the external features of this specimen-apart from body-proportions-lies in its colour-markings. Parker, Yon Haast, Clarke, and others have described (and figured) the peculiar, irregularly vertical streaks of black or very dark-blue, irregular in form, size, and arrangement, but limited to the anterior region of the body. Parker (4. p. 23) s a y s " In addition [to these marks] the whole body was covered with oval or circular grey spots, covered, and thus toned down, by the silvery coating" (of the skin). " These very obscure spots are hardly visible in certain lights." Clarke (8. p. 262) says of his specimen :-" As the fish gradually dried numerous transverse markings developed themselves, more especially along the whole of the postanal division, and the round and greyish markings became more apparent." Now in 11R. parkeri" the characteristic black, irregular streaks' are entirely absent, but the silver ground-colour was traversed by " 14 dark transverse bands set at fairly regular intervals from the back of the head to the end of the body. Each band extends over the entire depth of the body and is separated from its neighbour by a space about equal to its own length. " These colour-bands are not black, but extremely pale grey, and could only be recognised by reflection in certain lights, the grey |
