Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

FISHES.-33and extremity of tail verj' nidimentary or partly absent. Vent in,or nearly in, the median line.Moreton Eay (Peters) ; Thursday Island (Dr. Coppinger).In our specimens the fin occupying the median line between thebranchial or abdominal pore and the caudal extremity is rathermore distinct than would seem to have been the case in the specimensdescribed and figured by Peters ; and consequently the position ofthe vent is, at least in some of our specimens, rather lateral thanmedian. Whether these differences are owing to the better state ofpreservation of our specimens, or related to the difference of locality,I am not prepared to decide ; but assuming the latter to be the case,I should not consider them sufficient for specific distinction. Further,as our specimens show distinct traces of a postanal fin and a sublateralposition of the vent, they clearly indicate that Epigoniclithyscannot be maintained as a distinct genus.