68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Fistularia serrata Cuvier, Regne Animal, 1st ed., 1817, p. 349 (after Bloch).— 

 GuNTHER, Cat., Ill, 1861, p. 533.— GtJNTHER, Shore Fisheg, Challenger, p. 68, 

 pi. xxxii, flg. C, 1880.— Jordan and Gilbert, Synopsis, 1883, p. 390.— 

 IsHiKAWA, Prel. Cat., 1897, p. 31; Tokyo, Kii. 



Fistularia immaculata Cuvier, Eegne Animal, Ist ed., 1817, p. 349; Sea of the 

 Indies; after Commerson and John White. - 



Fisfnlaria commersonii Ruppell, Neue Wirbelthiere, 1834, p. 142; Red Sea. | 



The following description was taken from a specimen 30 cm. in 

 length from Wakanoura: 



Head 2i in length; depth at pectorals a little less than long diameter 

 of eye. Dorsal 15; anal 14. jj 



This species differs from K depressa in the following characters: ^ 



The ridges on the top of snout are close together and parallel. The 

 distance between them is always much less than the distance from 

 them to the upper lateral ridge of snout. The head is more deeply 

 sculptured and the ridges are rougher. The interorbital space is 

 deeply concave and without flat supraorbital areas in the adult. The 

 species may be at once distinguished by the touch, the skin feeling 

 harsh like very line shagreen. The lateral line is armed posteriorly 

 with sharp bony plates. 



Some of our specimens show faint traces of broad cross-bars a))out 

 as wide as the diameter of the eye; 3 or 4 are on the snout and 12 or 

 14 on the rest of the body. It is pale or dull reddish brown in life. 

 It seems to be rather less common than K depressa, but neither 

 species is rare in shallow bays of Japan. This species was found at 

 Wakanoura, Misaki, and Nagasaki. 



{petimhuaha , a Portuguese name.) 



Family V. MACRORHAMPHOSID^E. 



SNIPE-FISHES. 



Body compressed, oblong, or elevated, covered with small, rough 

 scales;*^ no lateral line; some bony strips on the side of the back and on 

 the margin of the thorax and abdomen, the former sometimes confluent 

 into a shield. Bones of the skull much prolonged anteriorly, forming 

 a long tube which bears the short jaws at the end; no teeth. Gill i 

 openings wide; branchiostegals 4. Branchihyals and pharyngeals - 

 mostly present, the fourth superior epibranchial and the first and i 

 fourth superior pharyngeals only wanting. Two dorsal fins, the first 

 of 4 to 7 spines, the second of which is very long and strong; soft dor- 

 sal and anal moderate; ventral fins small, abdominal, of 1 spine and 4 or 

 5 soft rays; pectorals short; caudal fin emarginate, its middle rays not 

 produced. Air bladder large; pseudobranchite present. Gills 4, a 

 slit behind the fourth; vertebrae about 24, the four anterior ones nmch 

 lengthened; no pyloric c(eca; intestinal canal short. Three or more 

 species, chiefly of the Old World, placed in two genera, Macrorham- 

 phostis and Centriscops. 



