488 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 42. 



A list of the fishes known from the Kiu Kiu Islands, published by 

 Jordan and Starks/ records 54 species as occurring at Okinawa. 

 However, tliis small number, together with a few others from the 

 islands near by, furnished material for the observation that the fish 

 fauna is fully tropical, composed of forms having a wide distribution 

 among the coral islands of Polynesia with some species characteristic 

 of the coasts of southern Japan and China. This conclusion easily 

 stands in the presence of a more thorough study made possible by 

 the collection in the hands of the present writer. 



Nearly 60 per cent of the species hsted in the present report are 

 characteristic of the East Indies, the Phihppines, and Polynesia, 

 about a tliird of these being known only from Polynesia. Not more 

 than 20 per cent occur in Japan, and most of these are indigenous 

 to the southern coasts, not extending their range north of Misaki. 

 Some of these Japanese species are also found far to the south through 

 the Philippines and Polynesia and also in the East Indies. The 

 remainder includes a few forms wliich are cosmopohtan, and a con- 

 siderable number wliich have thus far been seen only near Okinawa. 



It is not presumed that the following Ust of Okinawa fishes, 

 although recording 293 species,^ includes more than a part of the 

 great number occurring there. That the fauna is rich in species is 

 amply shown by the large number obtained in so short a time from 

 the pools and the smaU market, the great fringe of reefs remaining 

 untouched. The many forms recorded without further note are 

 represented by one or more specimens secured in the market, nothing 

 having been learned during the short stay of the party concerning 

 their relative abundance, habits, distribution, or value as food. 



The color notes on fishes from the pools were made from living 

 examples. Those based on market specimens were taken from 



prickles, and numerous small fish of the intensest blue color. We found several handsome shells clinging 

 to the coral, but all our efforts to secure one of the fish failed. The tide was ebbing so fast that we were 

 obliged to return for fear of grounding the boat. We hung for some time over the coral banks, enraptured 

 with the beautiful forms and colors exhibited by this wonderful vegetation of the sea. The coral grew 

 in rounded banks, with clear, deep spaces of water between, resembling in miniature ranges of hills cov- 

 ered with autumnal forests. The loveliest tints of blue, violet, pale green, yellow, and white gleamed 

 through the waves, and all the varied forms of vegetable life were grouped together, along the edges of 

 cliffs and precipices, hanging over the chasms worn by currents below. Through these paths, and 

 between the stems of the coral groves, the blue fish shot hither and thither like arrows of the purest lapis 

 lazuli; and others of a dazzling emerald color with tails and fins tipped vrith gold, eluded our chase like 

 the green bird in the Arabian story. Far down below, in the dusky depth of the waters, we saw, now and 

 then, some large brown fish, hovering stealthily about the entrances to the coral groves, as if lying in wait 

 for their bright little inhabitants. The water was so clear that the eye was deceived as to its depth, and 

 we seemed now to be resting on the branching tops of some climbing forest, now to hang suspended in 

 midair between the crests of two opposing ones. Of all the wonders of the sea which have furnished 

 food for poetry and fable this was assuredly the most beautiful." 



> Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 32, 1907, p. 491-501. 



2 Species previously recorded from Okinawa and not represented in the Albatross collection are included 

 in footnotes. 



