NO. 1714. JAPANESE SEA BASS.— JORDAN AND RICHARDSON. 447 



or less confined to a patch about its middle; scales on body rather 

 weakly ctenoid. Spinous dorsal beginning over insertion of pectoral; 

 longest dorsal spine 2.5 in head; longest ray of soft dorsal 1.8 in base 

 of the fin; caudal subtruncate; pectoral 1.8 in head; ventral 2. 



Color in spirits reddish brown, head, body and fins, except pectorals, 

 ever}^vhere covered with small roundish or irregularly polygonal dark 

 spots, separated by narrow line-like paler areas, giving the effect of 

 a reticulated pattern ; pectorals more faintly marked, but in same way ; 

 in a specimen 15 inches long the dark areas are about one-half diam- 

 eter of the pupil; in a young specimen 5.5 inches, the largest spots 

 exceed the diameter of the pupil. 



Of this species we have three specimens: one 15.5 inches long, from 

 Misaki; one 14 inches, from Nagasaki; one 5.5 inches, from Waka- 

 noura. There is no other record from Japan, but it is relatively 

 common in the East Indies. 



ilXopbi', green; orcyjia^ spot.) 



12. EPINEPHELUS CRASPEDURUS Jordan and Richardson, new species. 



Serranus angularis Steindachner and Doderlein, Denkschr. Akad. Wien., vol. 



47, 1883, p. 232 (Oshima and Kagoshima, Japan). (Not of Cuvier and 



Valenciennes or of Bleeker,=*S. celebicus Bleeker.) 

 Epinephelus areolatus Smith and Pope, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 31, 1906, p.468 



(Susaki and Yamagawa, Japan). (Not Perca areolata of Forskal.) 



(Coasts of southern Japan; not common.) 



Head 2.85; depth 3.25; eye in head 4.8, in maxillary 2.50; dorsal 

 XI, IG or 17; anal III, 8; scales 15-114-44. Nose 3.40; maxillary 

 slightly short of back of orbit, 2 in head, 1.3 in pectoral; interorbital 

 space 1.'2 in eye, moderately convex. Back moderately elevated; 

 profile gently arched, no angle at nape; muzzle moderately sharp; 

 lower jaw projecting less than width of lip. Teeth in sides of lower 

 jaw in 2 rows; canines moderate; nostrils subequal; angle of pre- 

 opercle moderately salient, with 3 or 4 stronger points; opercular 

 spines equidistant; point of opercular flap directed backward, mid- 

 way between lateral line and base of pectoral; gill-rakers 12 + 2. 

 Top of head, cheeks and opercles with small scales; chin and lower 

 jaws smooth or nearl}^ so. Dorsal fin beginning slightly in front of 

 pectorals; longest dorsal spine (4th) 2.4 in head; longest soft ray 1.4 

 in base of fin ; caudal evidently emarginate when closed, nearly square 

 when stretched; pectoral 1.5 in head; ventral 1.6. 



Color in spirits palish brown, the darker color on body, head and 

 fins in the form of irregular shaped roundish or hexagonal spots, in 

 size somewhat smaller or nearh' as large as eye, and separated from 

 each other by narrow, line-like pale interspaces, whose width is about 

 one-fifth to one-fourth the diameter of the dark areas ; caudal with a 

 conspicuous white edge, as wide as one-half pupil on middle of mar- 



