NOTES ON SOME JAPANESE FISHES. 



•15 



Caudal 



Snout 



Eye 



Interorbital 



8.3 cm. 

 U.O „ 



2.4 „ 

 9.1 .. 



Liparis owstoni (Jordan & Snyder). 

 PI. III., fig. 2. 



TrismegUtus owstoni Jordan & Snyder, Smithsonian Mis- 

 cellaneous Collections, Vol. 45, 1904, p. 238, pi. LVIII., fig. 

 29 ; Enoshima, Sagami Bay. 



Liparis owstoni Schmidt, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. 

 XXVIII, 1904, p. 189; Nagasaki. 



I liave been fortunate to be able to examine in all twenty- 

 live specimens of the species. One of these was purchased in 

 the Tokyo fish-market, another came from Ushitsu in the 

 Province of Noto, and all the rest were captured near Vries 

 Island, Sagami Sea. Of the entire lot, eighteen have prickly 

 skin and agree well with the original description given by Jordan 

 and Snyder,''^ but in all the rest the skin is entirely or partly 

 naked. When the skin is partly naked, the naked part is either 

 in the anterior or in the posterior parts. The specimen described 

 by Schmidt''^ was a ripe female filled with eggs and it had prickly 

 skin. Now, one of specimens — that from Ushitsu — is likewise 

 a female with ripe eggs, but has the skin entirely naked. It 

 then seems clear that the prickly or non-prickly nature of the 

 skin does not form a sexual character. I append below a table 

 which will explain itself. 



a) Loc. cit. 

 '>> Loc. cit. 



