•5. TliTRODON. 281 



Body entirely naked. Light-coloured, with short irregular, ver- 

 miculatcd blackish markings; or dark-coloured, with numerous 

 rounded irregular lighter spots. A large blackish spot behind the 

 pectoral fin, and on the base of the dorsal fin. 



Ja2)an. 



13. Tetrodon stictonotus. 



Tetraodon stictonotus, Schleg. Faun. Japoii. Poiss. p. 280 pi 1''6 

 fig. 1. r J r • 



Gastropliysus stictonotus, Bleeh.Act. Soc. Sc. Indo-Ncerl. in. Japan iv 

 p. 30. ^ J • 



Eack and belly covered with small two-rooted spines, the snout 

 and tail being naked. The dorsal and abdominal spines are only 

 slightly confluent behind the dorsal fin, but not in front of it. The 

 length of the head is less than its distance from the dorsal fin. 

 Caudal fin subtruncate. The osseous interorbital space is slightly 

 convex and very broad, its width being more than the length of the 

 snout._ Back finely mottled and spotted with brown and yellowish, 

 sometimes the one colour being predominant, sometimes the other.' 

 Lower parts whitish. 



Japan. 



a. One of the typical specimens, stuff'ed, 16 inches long. From the 

 Ley den Museum. 



14. Tetrodon pardalis. 



Tetraodon pardalis, Schleg. Faun. Japon. Poiss. p. 282, pi. 12.3. fio-. 2. 



Skin without spines, but with small soft tubercles. The fold on 

 the lower part of the side of the tail is indistinct, not raised, but a 

 furrow. Interorbital space flat, its width being less than the length 

 of the snout. Fins rounded. Brownish above and on the sides, 

 with irregular rounded black spots; abdomen of a dull orange 

 colour. 



Japan. 



a-b. Two of the typical specimens, stuffed, 13 inches long. From 

 the Ley den Museum. 



15. Tetrodon politus. 



Tetraodon politus, Girard, U. S. S,- Pac. R. R. F.rped. Fish. p. 340 ; 

 Giinth. Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. p. 489 *. 



Skin entirely smooth, with minute pouches, in which rudimentary 

 spines are lodged without longitudinal wrinkles ; an obscure fold 

 along the lower part of the side of the tail. Snout produced, the 

 eye being somewhat nearer to the giU-opcning than to the end of 

 the snout. The width of the interorbital space is equal to the length 

 of the postorbital part of the head in an examijle thirteen inches 

 long, but considerably less in another of eleven inches ; it is slightly 

 * The nasal papillft is not imperforated, but has two lateral openings. 



