NO. 1499. THE HERRINGS OF JAPAN— JORDAN AND HERRE. 639 



peduncle moderately compressed, its least depth from 3i to 3f in 

 head. 



Bod}^ elongate, subc3"lindrical, somewhat cigar-f<haped, thickest in 

 front of middle, head and posterior third of body laterally flattened; 

 snout triangular, the top of head flat, with a small median ridge; lower 

 lower side of head keel-like or wedge-shaped; eyes placed far forward, 

 large, with large adipose lid; mouth inferior, large, the lower jaw 

 comparatively weak, the snout projecting considerably beyond mandi- 

 ble. Mandible armed with a row of minute teeth. Upper jaw with 

 similar teeth in front, these becoming larger behind and extending to 

 posterior end of maxillary. A toothed ridge on middle line of tongue. 

 Gillrakers of first arch slender, numerous, their length equal to that 

 of eye; gill filaments verj' numerous, fine and slender, their length 

 hardly that of gillrakers of first arch; pseudol)ranchia^ large, the cen- 

 tral ones as long as gill filaments. Scales large, thin, cycloid, decidu- 

 ous; no abdominal scutes; a long pointed scale in axils of pectorals 

 and ventrals. Dorsal low. but higher than long, the second and third 

 rays longest, their length a little less than 2 in head; the other rays 

 rapidly decreasing, the last contained 3 or 4 times in second; origin 

 of fin midway between tip of snout and base of caudal; anal low, its 

 origin behind posterior end of dorsal about i diameter of eye; its 

 length If in head; caudal medium, deeply forked; pectorals inserted 

 low, their length 2 in head; ventrals small, inserted less than \ 

 diameter of eye in front of a perpendicular from origin of dorsal. 

 Color dusky blue above; sides pale brown; in some specimens a broad 

 faint silver band from eye to base of caudal; fins -pale, uniform, except 

 caudal, which is more or less dusky. This anchovy is common through- 

 out Japan, constituting an important article of food. We have speci- 

 mens from Otaru, Hakodate, Same, Aomori, Onomichi, Wakanoura, 

 Misaki, Tokyo, Tsuruga, and Nagasaki. 



IS. COILIA Gray. 



Mystus Lacepede, Poiss., V, 1803, p. 406 {myMiis; not of Gronow, 1763). 

 Coilia Gray, Zool. Misc., 1831, p. 9 (hamiltoni). 

 Trichosoma Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fishes, II, 1839, p. 292 {havtiltoni) . 

 ChMomus McClelland, Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist., IV, 1843, p. 405 (playfairi). 

 Leptonurus Bleeker, V^erh. Bat. Gen., XXII, Madura, about 1849, p. 14 {chry- 

 sostigvm). 



Body compressed, terminating in a long tapering tail; head and 

 mouth as in EngrauJh; scales of moderate size. Anal fin exceedingly 

 long, confluent with caudal; the upper pectoral rays much prolonged, 

 filamentous; belly keeled, with toothed scutes; premaxillary reaching to 

 end of opercle or even to base of pectoral. Air bladder thick-walled, 

 with two thin horns extending forward into the skull. East Indian 

 region. 



(Name probably without meaning.) 



