Plagiostomata of the Pacific. Pt. I. Fam. Heterodontidae / by N. de Miklouho-Maclay and William Macleay.
- Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay
- Date:
- [1878]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Plagiostomata of the Pacific. Pt. I. Fam. Heterodontidae / by N. de Miklouho-Maclay and William Macleay. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![The only other specimen known is that from which the present description is taken. It is stuffed, and in the Australian Museum, caught, I believe, in Rose Bay, Port Jackson, and pre- sented by E. S. Hill, Esq., of Woollahra. I have, also, in my Museum, the jaws and teeth of a specimen which was caught in Broken Bay two years ago, and unfortunately not preserved. But I think it not at all improbable that the species may not after all be of such very rare occurrence. The general resem- blance to H. Phillipi is considerable, and fishermen are generally far from being acute observers of fish which are not of a market- able character. Heterodontus Francisci. Gestracion Francisci. Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad., 1854-7, p. 196; and V.S. Pac. R.R. Exp. Fish, p. 365; Gunth. Cat. Brit. Mus., vol. 8, p. 416. Gyropleurodus Francisci. Gill. Proc. Ac. Nat.. Sc. Philad, 1862, p. 490. Heterodontus Francisi. Dum. Ichthyol. tome 1, p. 426. I have one speeimen of this very distinct species, an adult male, 2 feet 6 inches long, from the Bay of Monterey, California. It is represented in plate 26, and is, I believe, now figured for the first time. It is a spirit specimen, and the markings, if any, cannot, of course, be represented; but in other respects, the figures may be trusted, as the specimen is in a good state of preservation and not contorted in any way. I regret that the dentition cannot be shown in the same way as in the other two species, as to do that would be to spoil the specimen. The chief points in which it differs from H. Pliillipi are as follow :—The head is proportionally broader and less high ; the profile less steep and more convex ; the supra-orbital ridges less prominent, almost continued to the snout and terminating abruptly behind the eyes ; the teeth in front strongly tricuspid— the middle cusp large and pointed, those on the sides longitu- dinally ridged, but not as in H. galeatus; in fact, the lateral teeth in this species seem to be intermediate between those of H. Phillipi and galeatus. The spiracle larger and farther from and more behind the eye; the first gill opening scarcely twico [11]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22367913_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
