ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 231 
SERRANUS AKA-ARA, Temm. et Schl. F. J. p. 9. pl. 3. f. 1. 
Rad. D. 11/15; A. 3|8. (Biirger’s Spec. Brit. Mus.) 
D. 11/16; A. 3/8; C.17; P.15; V. 1|5. (F. Jap.) 
The British Museum possesses one of Biirger’s specimens of this fish, which was labelled 
haxzzo ara. 
Hab. Sea of Japan. 
SERRANUS sHIHPAN*, Icon. Reeves, 71; Hardw. Acanth.39. Chinese name, 
Shih pan (Reeves); Shik pan u (Bridgem. Chrest. 59). Rad. D.11|16; 
A. 3/8; C.174; P.16 vel 17; V.1|5. (Spee. Brit. Mus.) 
I have been strongly inclined to consider this fish as identical with the preceding one, but 
nothing is said in the ‘ Fauna Japonica’ of the dark bars which cross the body, and which are 
very evident both in the dried specimens and in those preserved in spirits. The species ap- 
pears to be common in the China seas and to attain the size of 16 or 18 inches. We have 
seen examples of it in the Chinese collection at Hyde Park, the British Museum, and the 
Cambridge Philosophical Institution. 
Teeth rather small, each intermaxillary armed by a curved canine. In the lower jaw the 
canines are longer, and the outer row is composed of subulate teeth set widely. The chevron 
of the vomer is acute and small, and the dental bands of the palate bones are narrow and 
feebly toothed. Thelimbs of the preoperculum meet at rather less than a right angle, the upper 
one slightly convex and acutely toothed, the lower one almost straight, with microscopical cre- 
natures. In some specimens, the coarse teeth at the angle of the bone are divided by a notch 
into two groups, in others there are two strong divergent teeth at the angle ; the bone is densely 
scaly up to the teeth. In Mr. Reeves’s figure the preoperculum is shown of too parabolic a 
form. The operculum ends in three acute teeth, the middle one being the largest; the tip of 
the gill-cover is slender and acute ; small scales cover the lower jaw, and the scales on the body 
are strongly ciliated ; the lateral line is conspicuous and formed of a series of tubes, one on 
each scale inclined upwards, and the fins are scaly to near their tips. Five or six dark bars 
cross the sides, two of them running up on the spinous dorsal, and two on the soft fin, which 
is also traversed in the middle by a cross-bar. The bars are irregular in form, and the caudal 
fin is crossed by two or three less distinct ones. The body and head are marked by round red 
spots, much as aka-ara is represented to be in the ‘Fauna Japonica,’ and there are some 
larger faint red marks on the spinous dorsal. The anal and pectoral are both crossed by dusky 
bars or clouds, and the ventrals are edged with the same. All the under-parts of the head and 
body are auvora-red. The Chinese name has been attached to this species as a provisional 
designation until the suspicion above-mentioned of its identity with the aka-ara be proved or 
disproved. : 
Hab. China seas. Canton (Reeves, Vachell, &c.). 
SERRANUS VARIEGATUS, Icon. Reeves, 87; Hardw. Acanth. 22. Chinese 
name, Ta shih pan, “Variegated garoupa” (Reeves). tad. D. 11[10; 
2\7, &c. (Reeves’s drawing.) 
Were it not for the small number of rays in the soft dorsal indicated in the figure here 
quoted, I should have no hesitation in saying that it is the representation merely of a young 
individual of the shih pan. The cross bands, however, are fewer, broader and fainter. The 
buff-coloured ground tint and the deep orange-red spots are the same in both. In the varie- 
gatus these spots form two rows on both the spinous and soft parts of the dorsal, and also on 
the upper half of the tail; and there are two black spots with pale borders on the latter fin. 
All the vertical fins are obscurely clouded or banded, and the pectorals are buff-coloured with 
orange borders and black bases. We have seen no specimen that corresponds to this figure, 
which measures 54 inches, 
Hab. China seas. Canton. 
SERRANUS Awo-ARA, Temm, et Schl. F. J. Sieb. p. 9. pl. 3. f.2. Rad. 
D. 11|16; A. 3|8. (Spec. of Biirger’s, Brit. Mus.) 
One of Burger's specimens, now in the British Museum, has been carefully compared with 
Mr. Reeves’s drawings, and not identified with any of them. The yellow borders of the fins 
distinguish this fish when recent. 
Hab. Sea of Japan, 
SERRANUus URA, C. et V. ii. p.332. S.ara, Temm. et Schi. F. J. Sieb. p. 9. 
Having seen neither specimens nor figures of this fish, we are unable to say, from the short 
* The words shih pan means “ stone-coloured stripe.” 
