On receiving this information, I at once made inquiries of the local fish-merchants, and learned that among the consignments from Kaikoura a large groper was occasionally received, and was called a “bass,” distinguishable by its “wider” body—that is, deeper, or “wider” as it lies on the fishmongers' slabs—larger eye, and bigger scales.

Being desirous of obtaining a description of the fish for the present paper, I journeyed to Kaikoura at the first available opportunity, and, though I went out with the deep-sea fishermen on several occasions, we were not sufficiently fortunate to obtam the specimen sought, though the extra-deep water (120–150 fathoms) in which the bass is caught was prospected.

At the close of one day which I had spent ashore investigating the numerous and large rock-pools with which the peninsula abounds, one of the boats brought in the much-desired bass. I at once saw that it was quite distinct from the groper, and made notes and measurements, but refrained from preserving the specimen, as I was told that one of the other fishing-boats had secured two better specimens. To hesitate was to lose: when the vessel landed its cargo at the wharf I found that the two bass on which I had counted had been decapitated and “cleaned” while still aboard. I therefore had to return to Christchurch, certainly with a description, but without a type to suppoit it. I had, however, deeply interested the fishermen in the object of my quest, and received a promise that the first specimen obtained would be sent to me. This did not occur until seven weeks later, when I received notification from Messrs. Jensen and Kingsnorth that a bass was being sent to me

The specimen was received on the 5th March, 1913, and furnishes material for the accompanying figure and following description.

B. vii; D. xi, 12; A. iii, 9; V. i, 5; P. 18; C. 15+4. L. lat. 96; L. tr. 16+43. Vert. 13+13=26.

Length of head, 2.5; height of body, 2.78; and length of caudal, 6.85 in the length; diameter of eye, 6.1; interorbital space, 4.38; and length of snout, 3.8 in the head.

Head very massive, slightly compressed and flat above, eye large, near the upper profile, wholly in the anterior half of the head. Nostrils round, close together, a short distance in front of the eye, the anterior provided with a lip behind. Mouth very large, horizontal, protractile, the lower jaw strongly projecting; the maxilla is very broad, its widest portion equal to the diameter of the eye; it has a large supplemental bone, and its distal extremity is notched; it extends to below the hinder edge of the eye. Opercles thick, and roughly serrate with a flat horizontal bar. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Gill-rakers none, replaced by spinous bosses, which coalesce anteriorly into a band, two at the angle of the outer arch much enlarged; pseudobranchiae present.

Body somewhat compressed and very deep, its highest point being about the insertion of the fifth spine.

Teeth.—Broad bands of villiform teeth in the jaws, on the vomer and palatines; three patches on the tongue arranged in a triangle, the hinder patch large.

Fins.—The dorsal arises over the edge of the opercle; the first spine is small; the seventh and eleventh are equal and longest, slightly longer than the diameter of the eye, or 5.74 in the length of the head; the spines can be received into a sheath; the rays are much higher than the spines; the fourth and fifth are longest, and equal 3.4 in the head; the hinder rays

are less than half this length, producing a rounded outline to the fin. The anal spines are short, the third longest; the fin is shorter than the soft dorsal, and terminates nearer the caudal; the rays of both fins have a deep scaly base. The pectoral is inserted in advance of the opercular margin; its fifth, or longest, ray extends to beneath the base of the seventh dorsal spine: the lower margin of the fin is rounded. The ventral is short, onethird the length of the head; its spine is inserted a little in front of the origin of the pectoral, being less than half the height of the first ray, to which it is closely adpressed. The caudal is slightly emarginate, and its peduncle is strongly compressed and deep, its height equal to its length behind the anal.

Scales.—The whole of the head, opercles, maxilla, and body covered with small scales, roughened on their free edges with minute denticles. The lateral line arises behind the opercle, has an extremely low curve over the pectoral, and follows the dorsal profile to beneath the termination of the fin, whence it attains the base of the caudal along the middle of the peduncle.

Colours. — The colour is almost uniform grey, slightly darker above; membrane of pectoral dark grey, of other fins dusky.

Length, 1,195 mm.; weight, disembowelled, 61 lb.

The sum of these characters leads me to associate the species with the Atlantic wreck-fish (Polyprion americanus Bloch and Schneider).^* This fish is not uncommon in deep water off the coast of Europe, from Norway to the Mediterranean; it is also known from the Cape of Good Hope, and has been identified from Madeira and the Southern Indian Ocean. A single example has been recorded from North American waters, and New Zealand is now added to the known habitat. The fish has long been known here under the name of “bass,” but Mr. L. F. Ayson, Chief Inspector of Fisheries for the Dominion, tells me that it was always regarded as a groper (Polyprion oxygeneios) which attained to greater size in the deep waters. It has been taken 180 lb. in weight, and a specimen 172 lb. is illustrated on the accompanying plate, reproduced from a photograph secured by the kind offices of Mr. Ayson. It is interesting to find the name “bass” applied to the fish here, for stone-bass is one of the names current for the species in British waters. Young specimens are described as having the ridges of the head, the opercles, and the spines of the fins serrate, but the asperities are lost as the fish grows, those of the fin-spines being replaced by striae, and the latter condition is found in the specimen above described. The most obvious discrepancy between the characters of my fish and the descriptions consulted is to be found in the gill-rakers: they are described as being as long as the gill-fringes, whereas in the Kaikoura example the gill-rakers are replaced by low spinous bosses. Perhaps such are characters of the larger specimens.

The bass is caught off the New Zealand coast by the line fishermen when angling for groper or hapuka, and the catch is tolerably assured when the 100–fathom line is reached, though the fish may be hooked in 80 fathoms. The food does not appear to be known, for, as usual with fishes drawn from deep water, the stomach is everted through the mouth, and consequently emptied. To its near ally little comes amiss, the capacious mouth being capable of receiving almost anything in the way of food, and I have extracted a full-grown elephant-fish (Callorhynchus milli), containing two eggs

features being incorporated in the description. The general contour is wrong, the head and fore part of the body being represented as altogether too massive. The opercles as drawn bear no resemblance to the actual condition, while the area whereon the scales originate behind the head is not properly defined, and scales are not represented as present on the cheeks. Some of the features as portrayed are of positive value; the lateral line is shown as extending from the opercle to the caudal rays, and thus extends even farther than shown by Richardson's artist. Two keels are noted and illustrated at the base of the caudal, and the pectoral is described as being rather short, the fin thus agreeing better with Gasterochisma than with my specimen.

The specimen to which I have alluded is more fully described below, and illustrated on the accompanying plate. It was caught at Kaikoura in November, 1910, and presented to the Canterbury Museum by Messrs. Dennis Bros., of Christchurch, to whose kindness we owe many interesting fishes.

We have published records of four other specimens, all taken in Otago. Two obtained in June, 1873, were described by Hutton^* under the name Gasterochisma. Unfortunately, their size was not given, but, judging from the accompanying figure and the fact that they were associated with Richardson's species, we may presume they were small. The figure appears to have been copied from Richardson, with slight modifications.

In 1898 Parker^† recorded two examples—one from Otago Heads and the other from Blueskin Bay. The sizes were not recorded, but being associated with Lepidothynnus, and one of the specimens being stuffed, we may presume they were adult, or, at least, large individuals. [Since writing, I learn from Professor Benham, Curator of the Otago Museum, that the specimen is 59 in. (1,500 mm.) in length.]

The paper was read before the Otago Institute, but does not appear to have been published. “Particular attention was drawn to the great difference in size between the heart of the common tunny and that of this species.”

By the kindness of Mr. A. Hamilton, Director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, I hold his private copy of Hutton's “Catalogue of the Fishes of New Zealand,” 1872, and against Gasterochisma melampus (p. 20) find the following interesting and significant note in pencil, the comparisons instituted being apparently with Richardson's figure: “Napier, May, 1888, from Dr. Spencer; length, 12 in.; pectorals more falcate, 20 scales below median line; head more rounded; position of median line wrong; ventrals not attached, as in Nomeus.”

Since writing the foregoing paragraph as to the need of specimens of intermediate size, I have examined the description given by Johnston^‡ of an example obtained in Tasmanian waters. This is of intermediate size, and indicates the assumption of adult characters, though the specimen was not fully grown, as thought by Johnston. The following are the most interesting features recorded: The specimen was captured in 1882 at the mouth of the estuary of the Derwent, and constituted the first record of the species in Tasmania. The total length was 39 in. (992 mm.), so that it may be regarded as an intermediate example.

The following proportions are deduced from Johnston's figures, though the basis for comparative length may not be quite the same as that now usually taken:—

B. vii; D. xvii, i, 10, vi; A. ii, 10, vi; V. i, 5; P. 21. L. lat. 64; L. tr. 27.

Length of head, 4.0; height of body, 3.9; and length of caudal, 8.7 in the length; diameter of eye, 10.0; length of snout, 2.1; length of pectoral, 1.68; and length of ventral (misprinted “anal”), 1.52 in the head.

Referring to the relative length of the dorsal spines and rays, Johnston writes: “In the figure in Dr. Gunther's ‘Study of Fishes,’ p. 455 (after Richardson), the anterior dorsal spines exceed in length the first soft rays of the dorsal and anal. In the mature specimen above described the highest of the gently arched anterior dorsal spines are not so long as either the first longest soft ray of anal or dorsal, which are nearly equal.' It will be seen that in those characters which suffer the greatest change with the growth of the fish—namely, the relative length of the dorsal spines and rays, the length of the pectoral and of the ventral—the Tasmanian specimen is intermediate, distinctly correlated with its intermediate size.

The following is a description of the Kaikoura example:—

B. v; D. xviii, i, 9, viii; A. i, 9, viii; V. i, 5; P. 21; C. 18 + 20; Sc. 70; Sc. tr. 7 + 19.

Length of head and height of body, 4.1, and length of caudal 10.5 in the length; diameter of eye, 7.4; interorbital space and length of snout, 2.2 in the head.

Head compressed and ridged above, upper profile strongly arched. Eye small, deeper than long, placed very low in the middle of the length of the head but nearer the upper than the lower profile. The posterior nostril is a vertical slit close in front of the eye; the anterior one is a round pore midway between the eye and the end of the snout; the latter is pointed, and the cleft of the mouth is horizontal. The non-protractile maxilla is narrow, subacute behind, and reaches to beneath the front margin of the eye. The opercular bones are thin and flexible; the opercle is deeply cleft forward above, its hinder edge is nearly straight with the angle rounded; the preopercle has a notch in its upper portion. The gill-membranes are united very far forward; no distinct rakers are developed, their place being taken by curved spines, irregularly disposed. Gills 4 in number, with a slit behind the fourth. Pseudobranchiae well developed.

Teeth.—The jaws are furnished with a single row of small conical teeth, about 30 in each ramus of maxilla and mandible; there are also teeth on the fore part of the palatines, and a small patch on the vomer; the tongue is smooth.

Fins.—The first dorsal fin arises behind the root of the pectoral, and extends to the lobe of the second fin, the distance of the last spine therefrom being not greater than that between two spines; the spines are very low, the height of the third and eight or nine following being not more than one-fifth greater than the diameter of the eye; the hinder spines decrease so that the last one is almost hidden in the groove into which the whole series can be depressed; the base of this portion is equal to a third the length of the fish, exclusive of the caudal; the base of the soft portion is slightly shorter. The second fin is formed of a lobe, more than twice the height of the longest spines, followed by finlets, of which 8

was still alive when first seen, but in a very sickly condition, due apparently to the presence of a truly enormous quantity of both tape and round worms. The whole digestive tract of the unfortunate animal was distended to bursting-point, and when stranded it was observed that the worms protruded from both the mouth and vent of the fish. Specimens of the worms were forwarded to Professor Haswell, of Sydney, who handed them to Dr. S. J. Johnston for determination.

The presence of worms in stranded sunfishes, or those obtained in a dying condition, seems to be the rule rather than the exception. To mention. New Zealand examples only, Archdeacon Williams^* records an individual taken in December, 1889, which measured 9 ft. in length and 11 ½ ft. in extreme depth—“As soon as the fish was dead, a long worm, many yards in length and like a narrow tape, began to come out of the mouth, and the end had not appeared when the fish was buried, two days afterwards.” Writing on a still larger sunfish from Napier, the late Mr. S. H. Drew^† mentions “vast quantities of internal parasites that infested the fish. The fishermen spoke of huge knots of tape-like worms as big as two fists, and masses matted together of round smooth worms of several kinds.” Parker^‡ described a large sunfish from Otago Harbour, and mentioned that the intestine contained immense numbers of a species of Taenia and a Distoma.

The New Brighton sunfish is a comparatively small one, and was cast for exhibition in the Canterbury Museum. Prior to this some notes were made on the proportions and coloration, and these are reproduced below. It should be remarked, however, that in consequence of the varying relative proportions which sunfishes undergo from early to adult life the figures supplied should be taken in conjunction with the size of the specimen. Mr. A. R. McCulloch^§ has recently published some very beautiful illustrations of young specimens (Molacanthus) showing the quaint forms of immature sunfishes.

The body of our example is covered, carapace-like, with a callous skin, studded with small prickles like that of some species of Monacanthus; this skin extends to the base of the caudal, but does not enclose the bases of the vertical fins, thus allowing them freedom of movement The pectoral is similarly situated in a non-callous area, formed of a thinner prickless skin, which is the nature of the cuticle surrounding the dorsal, caudal, and anal fins. The marginal bony scutes on the tail are 12 in number, and are disposed along almost its entire edge.

The length of the head is 3.75; the depth of the body, 1.49 in the total; the diameter of the eye, 5.45; the length of the snout, 2.4; the interorbital space and the length of the caudal, 1.5 in the head.

Colours.—The coloration is blackish-brown above and silvery below, with darker vertical flecks above the pectoral, and with light blotches behind it. These alternate with the ground-colour, forming a wavy pattern on the hinder part of the carapace.

Some Dimensions.—Total length, 900 mm.; length of head, 240 mm.; depth of body, 605 mm.; height of dorsal fin, 410 mm.; height of anal fin, 425 mm.; length of pectoral fin, 120 mm.; length of caudal fin, 160 mm.