NO. 1787. SCL13N0ID FISHES OF JAPAN— JORDAN' AND THOMPSON. 243 



Description after Bleeker: Specimen described about 225 mm. 

 long. Head 3f in body, 4| in total with caudal; depth 3| in length 

 without caudal, 4| with caudal; maxillary 2{ in head; longitudinal 

 diameter of eye a little more than 4 in head; interorbital space 4; 

 distance between eye and maxillaries less than half eye; D. X — I, 

 24 or 25; A. II, 8 or 9; scales in series above lateral line 63, below 53; 

 between first dorsal and lateral line 8 or 9, between ventrals and 

 lateral line 15. 



Body oblong, compressed. Head somewhat acute, its height 

 somewhat less than its length; profile straight above eyes; snout 

 shorter than eye, not projecting over mouth, with slight incisions 

 in free edge of skin laterally and medially; upper jaw a little longer 

 than lower; maxillary extending to below posterior half of eye. 

 Mouth very oblique, teeth on jaws anteriorly in a number of series, 

 laterally in two. Internal series on upper jaw very small; external 

 series conical, moderately distant, becoming shorter posteriorly, with 

 no canines. Mandibular teeth in outer row very small and crowded 

 together; inner series conical, moderately spaced, not as large as 

 external teeth of upper jaw, 2 to 4 somewhat larger and much 

 curved teeth just before the symphysis. Pharyngeal teeth acutely 

 conical, lower internal series much longer than the rest. Preoper- 

 cular breadth about half diameter of eye, posterior margin serrated, 

 at the angle 2 or 3 larger, strong spinelike teeth, the lower longer 

 than the others and pointing downward. Opercle ending in two 

 weak flat points; suprascapular bone denticulated. 



Dorsal fins separated to their bases; dorsal spines not very high, 

 thin, rigid, somewhat pungent, third and fourth longer than the 

 rest and contained 1| in height of body, conspicuously longer than 

 post-orbital part of head; dorsal soft rays about IJ in dorsal spines. 



Pectorals and ventrals pointed, caudal truncate, not much shorter 

 than head without snout. Anal not convex, acutely angled at base, 

 less than one-third length of soft dorsal; second spine very strong, 

 scarcely shorter than head without snout, first soft ray about equal 

 to dorsal spines. Lateral line moderately curved, each scale marked 

 by a simple tube. 



Color grayish above, sides silvery, iris yellow; fins yelloAvish, the 

 vertical fins more or less dusky. 



This species is known only from the description and figure of 

 Bleeker, from a specimen in the museum in Hamburg. It is very 

 close to Bairdiella armata from Panama, differing chiefly in the 

 presence of 24 mstead of 21 ra3^s in the soft dorsal. It is indeed pos- 

 sible that the type is really from South America. The species is 

 also very close to the Atlantic coast analogue of Bairdiella armata, 

 Bairdiella verse-crucis Jordan and Dickerson. In this species there 

 are twenty-three soft rays in the dorsal. The relative length of the 



