N0.12S7. JAPANESE TRIGGER-FISHES— JORDAN AND FOWLER. 255 



porting- spines short and very thick. Lateral line reduced to a trace 

 at the shoulder. Species few, inhabiting the Pacific, intermediate 

 ))etween Batistes and Battstajms. The name Pacht/n^d/iusis, perhaps, 

 ineligible, as if spelled correctly it is preoccupied. 



(TTaxvs, thick; yvaftog, jaw.) 

 a. Co\oY olivaceous, with a pale ring about the mouth and usually a pale line behind 



it; caudal double truncate; D. Ill, 29; A. 28; scales 50 capistratum, 3. 



aa. Color dusky with a green area marked by dark spots above; lower parts with 



large round blotches of dull red; a blue ring about snout; caudal rounded. 



I). Ill, 25, A. 21 ; scales 40 conspicillum, 4. 



3. PACHYNATHUS CAPISTRATUM (Shaw). 



Le Baliste bride Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., I, 1798, p. 335; without locality; on 



a drawing by Commerson. 

 Balistes cajnstratus SHA^\■, Genl. Zool., V, 1804, p. 417 (after Lacepede; not Pachij- 

 nathus capistratus Jordan and Evermann, which is a distinct species, with 

 smaller scales, =Pac}n/gnat]a(S verves Gilbert and Starks. ) 

 Balistes iidtis Bennett, Proc. Comm. Zool. Soc, I, 1831, p. 169; East Indies. — 



GtJNTHER, Cat., VIII, 1870, p. 218. 

 Balistes amboinensis Gray, Hardwicke, Illus. Indian Zool., 1834; Amboyna. 

 Packynathus triangularis Swainson, Classn. Fishes, II, 1839, p. 326 (Vizaga- 



patam, after Russell, pi. xx. ) 

 Balistes hikpe Eichardson, Voy. Sulphur, Fishes, 1843, p. 127; East Indies. 

 Balistes frenafus Eichardson, Voy. Sulphur, Fishes, 1843, p. 129; East Indies. — 



Bleeker, Atlas Ichth., 1865-69, pi. cccxxiii. 

 Balistes srhmltf a BLF.EKER, Verb. Bat. Gen., XXIV, 1852, p. 37; Sumatra. 

 Head 2|; depth 2; D. HI, 28 to 30; A. 25 to 27; scales 5U. 

 Body rather oblong, a groove before the eye. Each scale for about 

 9 rows on the tail and posterior part of sides, with a small, smooth, 

 inconspicuous tubercle; about 34 scales in several parallel horizontal 

 streaks in front of pectoral, a transverse series from soft dorsal to 

 vent; a few bony scutes behind the gill opening, 1 of these consider- 

 ably enlarged. Lateral line o])solete, reduced to a few scales behind 

 e3'e. Dorsal and anal fins rather low, with outlines rounded or slighth' 

 angular in front, the first vays not produced; the caudal double trun- 

 cate, the angles scarcely produced. First dorsal spine strong, very 

 rough, especially above. Ventral flap small, movable, supported by 

 several short, thick spines. Uniform blackish brown; a 3^ellowish 

 ring from middle of upper lip around the lower jaw, a straight 3'ellow 

 stripe from this ring toward the pectoral, not reaching the gill open- 

 ing; this sometimes absent or indistinct. Pacific Ocean; widely dis- 

 tri])uted through the East Indies and on the coast of China. Here 

 described from an adult example from Wakanoura. 



This species is very abundant in the East Indies and westward to 

 Honolulu. One specimen secured at Wakanoura, and another was 

 ol)tained for us by Yonekichi Koneyama, who caught it at Nafa in 

 Okinawa. There are no other records from Japan, but we have many 

 examples from Hawaii. 



