536 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol xxv 



Chaiodon oceUatus Gronow, Cat. Fish., Ed. Gray, 1854, p. 68; Indian Hea.s (not 

 of Bloch). 



Head 3; depth If; D. XII, 25; A. Ill, 21; P. I, 15; V. I, 5; scales 

 about 4— 10-li. Body short, deep, and strongly compressed; scales 

 large on the sides, small on the head, soft dorsal and anal and base of 

 the caudal. Head small, the profile above oblicjue, and the snout pro- 

 duced and pointed; eye a little greater than the snout and 2f in the 

 head; mouth .small, the maxillai-y to the anterior nostril; nostrils small 

 and close together, the first one-third the eye from its anterior margin; 

 teeth curved and projecting in brush-like 1)ands in each jaw; interorbital 

 space convex; gill-opening long, the mem))rane a narrow free fold 

 across the isthmus; dorsal spines aliout equal from the third, the first 

 and second shorter and anteriorly more robust, stronger; soft dorsal 

 with anterior rays longest and with an obtuse angle; anal spines robust, 

 the second the longest; soft anal deep and rounded; pectoral shorter 

 than the head; ventrals with the first raj- long and pointed, extending 

 to the base of the first anal spine; caudal truncate, with sharp edges. 

 Lateral line high and concurrent with the margin of the dorsal fin, then 

 descending on the base of the caudal peduncle to the ))ase of the cau- 

 dal. Caudal peduncle about equal to the eye. 



Color in alcohol plain brown, darker above; sides with series of 

 longitudinal dark lines not forking posteriorly; a blackish brown bai- 

 through the eye and equal in width to its diameter, margined behind 

 with lighter; a blackish bar along the marginal portion of the soft 

 dorsal and anal; a black ocellus on the upper part of the soft dorsal; 

 a blackish bar at the base of the caudal; a brown bar across the base of 

 the caudal peduncle; ventrals blackish brown; caudal and pectorals 

 pale; tip of the snout ])lackish. Length 2y^g^ inches. 



In smaller specimens there is a broad brownish yertieal band on the 

 anterior part of the back, separated by the white area Ijehind the dark 

 ocular bar; the light bar extends from before the dorsal vertically 

 over the opercles to the l^reast; the dorsal ocellus is broadly bordered 

 with white, extending downward in front of the hand on the caudal 

 peduncle as an indistinct light band; the posterior half of the caudal 

 peduncle wdiite; the profile is nearly straight from the tip of the snout 

 to the origin of the dorsal. 



In very young specimens the blackish brown band on the caudal 

 peduncle extends along the base of the anal fin, and the bar at the 

 base of the caudal disappears; the snout is convex, and the luichal 

 scales are large. Here described from a series of specimens from 

 Misaki. 



This species is not rare in rocky places along the southern coasts of 

 Japan, and probably the corresponding parts of China. A\"e have 

 eight young examples from the rock pools about Misaki. 



{//iodeistt/s, modest.) 



