636 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxiii. 



ventrals 1.4, their tips to a vertical from second ray of soft dorsal; 

 caudal rounded posteriorly, with the upper and lower angles rather 

 squarish. 



Color (in alcohol) grayish, with black dots on the sides forward 

 and on cheeks and opercles; spinous dorsal clouded with blackish, 

 being darkest behind, especially between the fifth and seventh spines; 

 rays of soft dorsal specked with black; pectorals with the rays 

 specked with black and also with some dusky in the membranes ; ven- 

 trals blackish except near base and at tips; anal pale; caudal crossed 

 by broad bars of dusky, one near base, a narrower one midway, and 

 a broad one across tip. 



Specimens: Wakanoura, 1 specimen, 2f inches; Sliimizu, on 

 Suruga Bay, 1 specimen, 5f inches. 



The above description is from a Suruga specimen, 5f inches in 

 length. 



(Named for J. C. L. Pompe van Meerdervoort) . 



5. THYSANOPHRYS JAPONICUS (Tilesius). 



(?) Silurus fnerniis«HouTTUYN, Verhandl. Haarlem, XX, 1782 (2), p. 450 (Naga- 

 saki). 



PlatycephalusjaponinisTiijEsivs, Krusenst. Reise, 1812, pi. lix, fig. 1 (Nagasaki).^ — 

 CuviER and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IV, 1829, p. 256 (after Tile- 

 sius). — (?) Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 217 (Canton). — 

 Temminck and Schlegel, ^ Faun. Japon., Pise, 1843, p. 40, pi. xvi, fig. 3 

 (Nagasaki). — Bleeker, Niewe Nalez. Ichth. Japan, 1857, p. 78 (Nagasaki). — 

 GtJNTHER, Cat. Fishes, II, 1860, p. 181 (China and Japan); Shore Fishes, 

 Challenger, 1880, p. 55 (Hongkong).— Macleay, Cat. Austral. Fishes, I, 1881, 

 p. 220 (Port Darwin). — Steindachner b and Doderlein, Beitr. Kennt. 

 Fische Japan's (IV), 1887, p. 260 (Tokyo).— Smith and Pope. Proc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., XXXI, 1906, p. 486 (Kochi; Kagoshima). 



Platyccphalus crocodilus Jordan and Snyder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXIII, 

 1900, p. 368 (Tokyo) (not P. crocodilus of Tilesius). — Schmidt, Pise. Mar. 

 Orient., 1904, p. 368 (Fusan, Korea). 



o We give here a translation of Houttuyn's description of Silurus inermis: No bar- 

 bels or serrated pectoral spine. Body terete, scaled. Head very flat, with large eyes, 

 close together, as in the Stargazer. Opercle with two fine spines. D. VII-11; P. 20; 

 V. 6; A. 10; C. 13. Caudal fin roundish, black and white spotted, like all the other 

 fins. Body reddish. Jaws without teeth. Length, 6 inches. It seems more prob- 

 able that Houttuyn may have made a miscount (under) of the dorsal and anal rays 

 than that he would have omitted mention of the spotting, if his specimen had been 

 an T. crocodilus. The description of the color fits well T. japoniciis, and it may be 

 that the species should stand as Thysanophrys inermis. 



&The fullness and accuracy of Doctor Steindachner 's description, together with 

 the fact that he had a specimen of P. japoniciis from Schlegel for comparison, seems to 

 establish beyond serious question the identity of the specimens of Schlegel and 

 Steindachner with P. japonicus of Tilesius. Certain essential points of Doctor Stein- 

 dachner 's description follow (in translation): "Dorsal 1/8/12-13; scales 65-70, not 

 100, as stated by Doctor Giinther; * * * a well-developed membranous flap 

 below the preopercular spines; color gray, with obscure bands and blotches; dorsals 

 and pectoral with rows of brown spots."- 



