N0.1W4. JAPANESE LIZARD-FISHES— JORDAN AND HERRE. 517 



HIEAKUTSUa-ESO (SNAKE-ESO); HIRAKUCHI ESO (WIDE-MOUTH ESO) ; TORAESO (TIGER 

 ESO); AKAESO (RED ESO); ISE ESO (ESO OF ISE). 



Salmo varius Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 1803, p. 224, pi. in, fig. 3 (He de 

 France) . 



Saurus varius Gunther, Cat. Fish., V, 1864, p. 395 (in part). — Ishikawa, Prel. 

 Cat., 1897, p. 22 (Nagasaki, Riu Kiu Islands). 



Synodus varius Steindachner, Denks. Ak. Wiss. Wien, LXX, 1900, p. 513 (Hono- 

 lulu, Laysan). — Jordan and Snyder, Check List, 1901, p. 56. — Jordan and 

 EvERMANN, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XXIII for 1903 (July 29, 1905), Pt. 1, 

 p. 63, pi. n, fig. 14 (Hilo, Honolulu). 



Saurus variegatus Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. Uranie, Poiss., 1824, p. 223, pi. 

 XLviii, fig. 3 (Maui). 



Synodus variegatus Seale, Occas. Papers Bishop Mus., I, Pt. 4, 1901, p. 63 (Guam). 



Synodus synodus Bleeker, Atlas Syn., p. 154, pi. ii, fig. 5 (Java, etc.) (not Esox 

 synodus Linnaeus). 



Saurus lucius Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonira, Poiss., 1847. p. 232, 

 pi. cvi, fig. 1 (Shimabara, near Nagasaki). 



Synodus sharpi Fowler, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1900, p. 497, pi. xi.x, fig. 2 

 (Hawaiian Islands). 



Habitat. — Western Pacific Ocean and coast.s of Asia and India. 



Head 3.5 in length; depth 6; width of head 1.67 in its length; 

 depth of head 1.8 in its length; snout 4.75 in head; maxillary 1.6; 

 interorbital space 7; eye 1.5 in snout; pectoral 2.75 in head; ventral 

 about H; base of anal 3.5; D. 13; A. 8; P. 13; scales, 5-65-11. 



Body elongate, rounded, the back and ventral surface depressed; 

 head large, elongate, depressed, pointed; eye forward, high, the upper 

 margin elevated above profile; mouth very large, oblique; maxillary- 

 long, its greatest width anterior to the middle of its length; the mandi- 

 ble very large and powerful; jaws subequal when mouth is closed, the 

 mandible slightly inferior; teeth in jaws in two irregular series, depres- 

 sible, those in upper jaw more or less visible when mouth is closed; 

 teeth on vomer and palatines depressible, in a narrow band on each 

 side of latter; tongue and basi-branchials with a band of rlepres- 

 sible teeth, forming a triangular patch of large ones on the vomer; 

 tongue sharply pointed, free in front; nostrils ver^^ close together, 

 the anterior one with a small fle.shy flap; interorbital space concave; 

 top of head roughened ; gill opening large, the narrow membrane free 

 from isthmus; gill-rakers forming tooth-like asperities on inner sur- 

 face of branchial arches; gill filaments short, rather coarse, blunt; 

 pseuilobranchia? small, few in number; peritoneum silvery. 



Scales large, cycloid; 6 rows on cheek; a series of enlarged scales 

 along margin of preopercle; occiput and sides of head scaly, the rest 

 naked; a broad scaty flap between ventrals and a pointed scale at 

 their outer axil ; lateral line nearly straight to base of caudal. 



Origin of dorsal midway between tip of snout and origin of adipose 

 dorsal; last dorsal ray a trifle more than half the length of longest 



aHirakutsu, " broad-shoe," is the name of a venomous serpent. 



