156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL IfUSEUM. vol. xxvii. 



parts of boc\y; each ray of caudal with 5 or 6 small dark spots 

 arranged to form irregular dark cross lines across fin. Peritoneum 

 white. 



About a dozen specimens were takcTi b}' Jordan and Snyder at 

 Wakanoura, the longest 6 cm. in length. 



{/>itsi//as, feeble.) 



17. EROSA (Swainson) Jordan and Starks, ne^A^ genus. 



Erom Swainson, Nat. Hist. C'lassn. Aniiii., II, 1839, p. 61; diagnosis, no refer- 

 ence to type, erosa understood from context. 



Synanchia "Swainson" Bleeker, Nat. Verli. FIoll. Maats. Wetens., 1S74, p. 11 

 (rejirint) {erosa): (not Synanchia Swainson, which was a mere misprint 

 or vagary of spelling for Synanceia). 



Body short and thick, covered with naked skin, on which are skinny 

 flaps. Head very large, cuboid, irregularly^ formed, with deep 

 grooves and depressions. Eyes small; mouth large, almost vertical; 

 teeth on the vomer, none on the palatine; preorbital with two strong 

 spines; preopercle with 5 bluntish spines; bones of the skull very 

 thick; top of head rough; a large quadrangular pit at the vertex. 

 Dorsal fin continuous with 13 stout spines and Dsoft rays; none of the 

 spines separated; doi'sal fin beginning behind the nape; none of the 

 fin ra3^s filamentous. Anal short, with 3 distinct and 5 soft rays. 

 Pectoral short without fiee ray. Ventrals moderate, the rays 1, 1. 

 Caudal rounded, skin smooth. 



A single species, distinguished from Sipianceia {horrida) = /Sr/vaji- 

 cidiwin ^ I^tiJicJdJiys^ ]>y the form of the head, by the absence of warts 

 and fringes on the smooth skin of the body, and by the absence of a 

 deep cavity below the eye. As originally presented, neither Krosa 

 nor Sijiumchia seem to have an}^ standing in nomenclature. The 

 genus is however valid, and we may adopt Erom as its name, unless 

 Erosla (1857) be regarded as excluding it. 



'^.rosus, ragged, gnawed out.) 



44. EROSA EROSA (Langsdorf). 

 r>ARUMA,« DARTJMAOKOZE, TOKENOKO ( BAMBOO-SPROTTTS ) . 



Synanceia erosa Langsdorff, in Cuvier an<l Valenciennes Hist. Poiss., IV, 1829, 

 p. 459; Japan. — Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Poiss., 1843, p. 45, pi. xvii, 

 fig. 1; Nagasaki. 



Synanchia erosa Swainson, Nat. Hist. Classn. Fishes, II, 1839, p. 268. (Name 

 only; misprint for Synanceia.) 



Synancidimn erosum (tunther, Cat. Fish, 11, 1860, p. 146; Japan. — Steindachner 

 and Doderlein, Fische Japans, III, 1S84, p. 31; Tokyo, Kagoshima. — 

 Nystrom, Kong. Vet. Akad., 1887, p. 19; Nagasaki. — Ishikawa, Prel. Cut., 

 1897, p. 49; Kagoshima. 



Head 2| in length without caudal; depth 2. Dorsal XIV, T; anal 

 III, 6. Lateral line with 11 pores. Eye If in head; maxillary 2^; 



« Daruma is the red-faced squatting figure of a Buddhist saint. 



