284 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL AfUSEUM. vol. xxv. 



24. ARCANA ACULEATA (Houttuyn). 

 ITOMAKT FUGU (REAL PUFFER). 



Odracion aculenius Houttuyn, Verb. Holl. Maats. Wet. Haarlem, XX, Pt. 2, 1782, 

 p. 346; Nagasaki.— IsHiK.\wA, Prel. Cat., 1897, p. 3; Sagami. 



Arucana aaUeata Gv^THER, Cat. Fish., VHI, 1870, p. 266; Japan. 



Ostracion he.ragoniis Thunberg, Vet. Ac. Nya Hyndl., XI, 1790, p. 107, j)!. 11; 

 Japan ( " Veneni suspectus et in cibo daninatiis"). — Bloch and Schneider, 

 Syst. Ichth., 1801, p. 502 (copied). 



Ostracion stictonotus Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Poiss., 1846, p. 297, pi. cxxxi, 

 fig. 3; Nagasaki.— Bleeker, Verb. Ak. Wet., I, 1853, Japan, p. 15; Naga- 

 saki.— Nystrom, Svensk. Vet. Handl., 1887, p. 48; Nagasaki. 



Head 3i to 3f ; depth 2 to 2i; D. 10 to 11; A. 10; scales 8 or 1) in a 

 series from gill opening- to end of carapace, 8 across widest part of 

 ventral surface, and 8 or 9 from middle of back to ventral ridge; scales 

 all roughly striated; carapace strong, with 6 ridges; the dorsal iin with 

 a broad, strong, compressed spine about halfway between the posterior 

 margin of eye and origin of dorsal; the lateral ridges a little superior 

 and on the posterior half of the carapace, and 2 broad, flattened spines 

 on each side under the dorsal; ventral ridges each with a median, 

 broad, flattened spine, posterior to the dorsal spine, and terminated 

 finally in a more rounded posteriorly directed spine. The head is very 

 deep, profile obliquely straight above to the tip of the snout; snout 

 inferior, protruding little; mouth small; teeth small, narrow, and 

 pointed; jaws subequal, lips very thick, fleshy, and papilose; eye high, 

 large. If in snout, 2i in head, 1^ in forehead between eyes; nostrils 

 small in front of eye; gill opening below the middle of the eye, from 

 one-half to two-thirds the diameter of the eye, and greater than the 

 space between the lower margin of the eye to its upper end; origin of 

 dorsal only a short distance in advance of that of the anal, and also 

 higher than the same; caudal broad and slightly convex, the edges 

 sharp; pectoral equal to snout, the outer ray the longest, the others 

 graduated to the innermost, which is one-half the length of the outer; 

 caudal peduncle rather thick, its least depth from one-half to two- 

 thirds the length of the eye. 



Color of the body brown, darker above, and on the back and upper 

 parts of the sides with many blackish-brown spots nearly as large as 

 the pupil; fins all plain; snout brownish above. Length of largest 

 specimen 5i inches. Here described from Nos. 2372, 23T7, 23T8, and 

 2382, dredged by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Alhatnm in 

 Sagami Bay. 



This little trunk fish is rather common at moderate depths in the 

 waters of southern Japan, not having yet been seen elsewhere. Our 

 specimens are from Misaki and from Sagami and Suruga bays, where 

 they were dredged by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Alhatrunis. 



{aculeatus^ with needle-like spines). 



