Pyramidella cinctella, Sowerby, Reeve, Conch., pl. 6, sp. 45. Hab. Darnley Island, Torres Straits, 30 fathoms, sandy mud.

59. SYRNOLA PULCHRA, N. SP.

Shell acutely elongated, rather thin, smooth, whitish, whorls 11, flat, the last convex, suture deep, spirally encircled with a light yellowish brown narrow band just above the suture, last whorl with obsolete band of the same colour entering spirally into the interior; aperture ovate, peristome thin, columella plait rather prominent and twisted outwardly, interior of aperture furnished halfway down with 4 white prominent lines of striæ, the upper one thickest.

Length 3 lines, breadth line.

Hab. Darnley Island, Torres Straits, 30 fathoms, sandy mud; Cape York, North Australia, 11 fathoms, white sand.

Specimens from Cape York have only one band.

The ICHTHYOLOGY of the Chevert Expedition, by HAYNES GIBBES ALLEYNE, M.D., and WILLIAM MACLEAY, F.L.S.

During the voyage of the Chevert to New Guinea, no opportunity was lost by those on board of securing specimens of the fishes of the seas passed through. The result has been a collection of a most varied and interesting character, exceeding in point of number the collections made in those seas on any previous occasion. It is our intention in this and succeeding Papers to give a list of these Fishes, with notes on their habits, localities, &c. The new species will be described and illustrated, and where previous descriptions have been imperfect, re-descriptions will be given of those previously named.

The labour attached to the task we have assigned ourselves is greater than will be generally believed, involving, as it does, the repeated examination of over a thousand fishes of all sizes, packed, some in bottles and some in large tanks, and with not a few very

much injured and rendered difficult of recognition by the knocking about which they got on board ship when in insufficiently filled tanks.

The collection has been made exclusively on the Australian coast in the inner passage from Percy Island to Cape York, in New Guinea at Katow and Hall Sound, and in Torres Straits from Warrior Island on the West to Darnley Island on the East.

We adopt the divisions and arrangement given by Gunther in his celebrated Catalogue of the Fishes of the British Museum. ORDER 1.-ACANTHOPTERYGII. FAMILY PERCIDE.

New Genus-PSEUDOLATES.

Seven branchiostegals. No pseudobranchiæ. Very fine villiform teeth on the jaws, vomer, palatine bones, and tongue. Two dorsals, the first with seven spines. The anal fin with three spines. Oper culum with one spine. Præoperculum with strong spines at the angle and lower limb. Præorbital finely serrated. Scales large.

1.-PSEUDOLATES CAVIFRONS.

Plate III.
D. 7, A. g.

Body rather compressed. Height four and a third times in the total length. Head, nearly three and a half in the same. Teeth, minute, uniform, feeling like fine sandpaper. Profile of head concave. Upper maxillary large, extending beyond the vertical from the posterior portion of the eye. Lower jaw longer than the upper. Distance between the eyes about equal to the diameter of the orbit. Præoperculum finely serrated on the posterior edge, with a strong spine at the angle, and three smaller spines on the lower limb. A flat acute spine on the upper part of the operculum. Coracoid with seven denticulations, the upper one indistinct. Pectoral fins small. ventrals with a very strong spine. The third spine of first dorsal very strong, and more than half the height of the body. Soft dorsal scaly at the base. Anal with the third spine much the longest, and the soft portion received into a scaly sheath. Caudal fin rounded. colour shining, brown on the back, pale beneath. Scales on the body very large and finely serrated.

One specimen of this fish was caught somewhere in Torres Straits or the coast of New Guinea, the exact locality is not known. It is two feet long, and nearly six inches deep. Its affinity to Lates is very marked; in fact, but for the rough tongue and large scales, we would have taken it for Lutes nobilis of Cuv. and Val. 2, p. 96, pl. 13.

It is by no means easy to identify the species of this genus. They are numerous, they much resemble one another, and they have never, as we think, been very accurately described. The present species, more remarkable for the size of its pectoral fins than anything else, seems to have been found pretty generally from the latitude of Trinity Bay to Cape York.

3. SERRANUS HEXAGONATUS.

Serranus hexagonatus, Cuv. and Val. 2, p. 330, and 6, p. 516; Guer. Icon. Poiss., pl. 4, f. 1; Rich. Voy. Sulph., p. 82, pl. 38, f. 1, &c., &c.

This species has a multiplicity of synonyms which we have curtailed very much as being unnecessary for reference. Gunther in his Catalogue makes out the species foveatus (Cuv. and Val.), Merra (Cuv. and Val.), and stellans (Rich.), to be synonymous with this, but doubts have been expressed as to the correctness of merging all these names in one.

We find that the references to Cuvier and Valenciennes Fishes, given by Gunther in his Catalogue, are quite different as to pages from the edition in our possession. We have, however, adhered to the references given by Gunther, as not improbably he may have taken them from an edition more generally in use than ours.

One specimen was taken at the Palm Islands.

4.-SERRANUS CRAPAO.

Cuv. and Val. 3, p. 494; Rich. Ann. Nat. Hist., 1842, p. 25. This species was found in great abundance about the reefs of Long Island in Torres Straits.

5.-SERRANUS AUSTRALIS.

Casteln, Researches on Aust. Fishes, p. 7.
One specimen was taken at Darnley Island.

6.-SERRANUS FUSCOGUTTATUS.

Rüpp. Atl. Fisch., p. 108, t. 27, f. 2, Peters, Wiegm. Archiv. 1855, p. 235.

The only specimen in the collection of this fine species is from Cape Grenville.

7.--SERRANUS ALATUS.

Plate IV., fig. 2.

D. ††, A. 3.

Head, more than a third of the total length.

Diameter of the

eye, one-fifth of the length of the head, and about equal to the space between the eyes, A small deep hollow between the eyes. Upper maxillary extending far beyond the vertical from the posterior part of the orbit. Præoperculum finely denticulated on the posterior limb, with a slight emargination above the angle. Operculum with the middle spine flat and acute, the upper invisible, and the lower small and acute. Caudal fin rounded. Pectoral very large, and extending to the vertical from the third anal spine. The head, back, and sides are closely covered with large brown, hexagonal spots, separated only by white lines, the spots becoming less crowded and distinct upon the under surface. On the dorsal fin the spots are large and divided by two longitudinal yellowish bands. The caudal fin is yellow, spotted with brown. The pectoral and anal fins are of a dark brown, with small spots of yellow. The head beneath and thorax are whitish, with broad brown bands.

One specimen, 12 inches long, of this handsome Serranus was captured at Hall Sound, New Guinea.

8.-SERRANUS CARINATUS.

Plate IV. Fig. 3.

D. 1, A. §.

Oblong. Height of body less than one-fourth of the total length. Head, one-third of the same. Eye, four and a half times in the length of the head, and larger than the space between the eyes. Teeth fine. Intermaxillary very thin. Upper maxillary scarcely reaching to the vertical from the middle of the eye. Præoperculum irregularly denticulated, with a slight emargination above the angle. Operculum with the spines acute. A prominent curved ridge on the suboperculum near the angle of the præoperculum. Caudal fin rounded. Pectoral fins reaching to the extremity of the ventrals. Coloration in spirits pale, with large rounded or hexagonal brown spots, which are continued of about the same size on the dorsal fin, and of a less size on the caudal. The other fins are also spotted, but more indistinctly.

Two of this fish, eight inches long, were caught at Cape Grenville. It seems to resemble a good deal Serranus Howlandi, Gunth., Journ. Mus. Godeff. 3, p. 8, t. 9, f. B There are other Serrani in the collection which we have been unable satisfactorily to determine, either from the specimens being injured or immature.

9. PLECTROPOMA MACULATUM.

Cuv. and Val. 2, p. 393,; Bleek. Jav., p. 39, &c. Bodianus maculatus, Bloch, t. 288, Lacep. 4, pp. 280-293. Plectropoma punctatum, Quoy and Gaim., Voy. Freyc, Zool. Poiss., p. 318, t. 45, f. 1.

areolatum, Rüpp. Atl., pp. 110-143.

The only specimen was caught at Fair Cape.

10. GENYOROGE SEBÆ.

Diacope Seba, Cuv. and Val. 2, p. 310.

Siamensis, Cuv. and Val. 6, p. 524.

Mesoprion Seba, Bleek. Perc. p. 45.