NO. 1499. THE HERRINGS OF JAPAN— JORDAN AND HERRE. 619 



Body elongate, rather slender, the caudal peduncle markedly so; 

 head low, large, the top broad, flattened, orbital ridges projecting 

 •above sides of interorbital space; snout long, conical, pointed, project- 

 ing considerably beyond mouth, with a median ridge above; beneath 

 this a broad muciferous channel; a large keeled muciferous channel 

 on side of head, extending from above mouth ])ackward below and 

 behind eye, there connecting with the channel on top of head; a sharp 

 ridge running from lower lip backward almost to angle of operclo; 

 mouth inferior, small, the short and broad maxillary reaching to a line 

 extended vertically from the nostrils; jaws with bands of minute teeth. 



Gill openings large, membranes united; gill rakers short, stout, 

 papillate or tuberculate, present on all arches; pseudobranchia? 

 present. 



Scales small, c3^cloid, easih' detached; head naked; caudal basally 

 covered with line scales. 



Our numerous specimens are from Suruga Bay, Matsushima Bay, 

 Tsugaru Straits, and Hakodate. The largest is about 14 inches long. 

 It is found in rather deep water in abundance. 



(gisu, the local name, also applied to species of Slllago^ of somewhat 

 similar form.) 



Family III. ALBULID.E. 



Bod}' rather elongate, little compressed, covered with rather small, 

 brilliantly silvery scales; head naked. Snout conic, subquadrangular, 

 shaped like the snout of a pig, and overlapping the small, inferior, 

 horizontal mouth. Maxillary rather strong, short, with a distinct sup- 

 plemental bone, slipping under the membranous edge of the very broad 

 preorbital;^premaxillaries short, not protractile. Lateral margin of 

 upper jaw formed by the maxillaries; both jaws, vomer, and palatines 

 with bands of villiform teeth; broad patches of coarse, blunt, paved 

 teeth on the tongue behind and on the sphenoid and pterygoid bones. 

 E3'e large, median in head, with a bony ridge above it. and almost 

 covered with an annular adipose eyelid. Opercle moderate, firm; pre- 

 opercle with a broad, flat, membranaceous edge, which extends back- 

 ward over the base of the opercle. Pseudobranchiti? present. Gill 

 rakers short, tubercle-like. Gill membranes entirely separate, free 

 from the isthmus; branchiostegals about 11; a fold of skin across gill 

 mem])ranes anteriorl}' , its posterior free edge crenate; no gular plate. 

 Lateral line present. Belly not carinate, flattish, covered with ordi- 

 nar}^ scales. Dorsal fin moderate, in front of ventrals, its membranes 

 scaly; no adipose fin; anal very small; caudal widely forked. Pyloric 

 cceca numerous. Parietal bones meeting along top of head. \ ertebnv 

 numerous, 42+28 = 70. A single species among living fi.shes, found in 

 all warm seas. In this, and probably in related families, the young 

 pass through a metamorphosis, analogous to that seen in the conger 



