192 ORTHRAGORISCUS. 



band, occasionally interrupted by narrow stripes of ine- 

 qualities. 



Of the four specimens , to be found under the name of 

 Orthragoriscus mola in the Leyden Museum , up to the 

 Id^^ of Dec. 1889, two specimens present no traces of a 

 dermal fold; the former of these, long about M. 1.10, 

 was captured on the Dutch coast, the latter, long about 

 M. 0.90, ofi Leghorn. Our third specimen is from Japan , 

 long about M. 0.90, and presents, like the picture in the 

 Fauna Japouica , a distinct band between the body and 

 the caudal fin. The fourth specimen , long about M. 0.65 

 from the Cape of good Hope , is in a very bad state of 

 preservation; the upper part of the body shows no traces 

 of the folded band, whereas the lower part would seem to 

 show them , but in my opinion these are no remains 

 of the folded band , as the epidermis , owing probably to 

 maceration, has disappeared, in consequence of which a 

 smooth surface has been produced. 



Hence, there are specimens of Orthragoriscus with which 

 the caudal fin is separated from the body by a folded band, 

 and others showing no such folded band. An examination 

 of the different specimens proves at once that this cannot 

 possibly be the result of age. Retzius' specimen with folded 

 band measured 1 foot , 1 1 inches , our specimen from Japan 

 M. 0.90, whilst Plancus' specimen weighed 400 ^, Nor 

 can sex produce this difference, seeing that Harting's spe- 

 cimen lacking the folded band was a female, and that the 

 Orthragoriscus treated of in this note is also a female, 

 provided with such a folded band. 



In the second place I wish to call attention to the 

 hump above the mouth , which , according to Günther's 

 Catalogue ^), develops with age , and is topped by an 

 osseous tubercle , which in very young specimens is a spine. 

 On comparing different descriptions and figures with each 

 other, we find that , as to the absence or presence of this 



1) A.Günther, Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum, vol. VIII. p. 317. 

 Notes from the Xjeyden Museum, Vol. XII. 



