184 PR()('EEDIN<;S OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxi. 



7. VERASPER Jordan and Gilbert. 



Verasper Jordan and (Jilbert, Kepiirt Fur Seal Invest., Ill, 1899, p. 490, 

 ( moseri) . 



Body dextral; dorsal inserted al)ove the front of pupil; lateral line 

 stronoly arched above the root of the pectoi'al, without recurrent dor- 

 sal branch; scales firm, extremely spinous. Mouth large; upper teeth 

 in 2 series, teeth uniformly small, without canines. Gillrakers short, 

 thick, and triangular, few in numl)er; none of the fin rays notably 

 produced or exserted, 



(w/v/x, true; (t.yjer, rough, the word being suggested by Veratrum.) 



KEY TO .SPKCIES. 



a. Vertical fins with large, round, blended spots, not reaching to edge of fins; arch 

 of lateral line rather low mriegahis, 15 



cut. Vertical fins, with streaks following the rays from base to tips; arch of lateral 

 line more al)rupt and higher moseri, 16 



15. VERASPER VARIEGATUS (Schlegel). 



HOSHIGAREI (STAR-FLOUNDER); ISHIAMATE (ROCK-FLOUNDER); MEDAKAKAREI (BAMBOO- 

 FLOUNDER). 



Flatessa variegatn Schleq-el, Fauna Japonica, Poiss., 1846, p. 176, pi. xc (Nagasaki). 

 Pleuronedes rariegatus Gunther, Cat. Fish., IV, 1862, p. 45.3 (copied); Shore 



Fishes Challenger, 1880, p. 69 (Yokohama).— Namive, Class. Cat., j). 110, 



1881 (Tokyo).— OTAKi,Journ. Fish. Bur., 1897, p. 7, pl.vii, fig.9.— Ishikawa, 



Prel. Cat., 1897, p. 25 (Tokyo). 

 Verasper rariegaius Jordan and Snyder, Check-List, 1901, p. 120 (Yokohama); 



Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1901, p. 378 (Tokyo). 



Ilahitat. — Southern Japan, north to Matsushima Ba}". 



Head, 3i in length to base of caudal; depth, 2^\; eye, 6 in head; 

 maxillary, 3; snout, 5i; dorsal, 80; anal, 61; pores in lateral line, 95. 



Mouth oblique, the gape strongly arched; maxillary reaching to 

 below posterior edge of pupil; lower jaw strongly projecting; poste- 

 rior end t)f mandible forming a slight angle at lower outline of head; 

 teeth in two series in upper jaw, in 1 on side of lower jaw and in 

 2 in front; posterior margins of e3'es opposite; interorbital space 

 slightly convex, cov^ered with rough scales; its width equal to diameter 

 of pupil; gillrakers flat and short, 6 of them on lower limb of arch. 



Arch of lateral line rather low and followed b}" a wav}' portion, 

 before it becomes straight posteriorly; height of curve, three-fifths 

 diameter of eye; length of curve, 2^ to 2| in head; scales everywhere 

 very rough on eyed side, cycloid on blind side except an area along 

 middle of body anteriorly, where they are rather rough b}^ reason of 

 a few small spinules on each scale, or in many instances a single 

 spinule. 



Dor.sal beginning above front of pupil of upper eye; pectoral 

 roiuided at tip, that of eyed side, 2 in head, the other 2^; ventrals 



