454 PROCEEDINGS OF TEE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 39. 



Lutjanus christat Bleeker {=Mesoprion annularis Cuvier and Valenciennes), 

 Enum. Especes Poiss. du Japon, 1879, p. 7 (Nagasaki) (misprint lor chirtah). 



Diacope erythrinus Ruppell, Neue Wirbel. 1835, p. 92, pi. 23, fig. 3 (Abyssinia). 



Mesoprion enjthri/ius Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vol. 1, 1859, p. 199 (Red 

 Sea, after Ruppell).— Playfair, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1867, p. 849 (types exam- 

 ined by Day). 



Diacope metallicus (Kuhl and van Hasselt) Bleeker, Nat. Gen. Arch. Ned. Ind., 

 vol. 2, 1845, p. 525 (Batavia). 



Habitat. — East Indian seas, recorded by Bloch and by Bleeker, from 

 southern Japan. Both records must be regarded as doubtful 



Description. — Of three specimens from Sumatra and three from 

 Manila, P. I., from 84 to 105 mm. in length. 



Head 2^ to 2§ in body length to last vertebra, 3^ in total; body 

 depth 2J to 2J in body length, 3 in total; maxillary 2| in head; eye 

 3^ to 4 (5 or 6 in adult, Day); interorbital space (bone), 5; suborbital 

 width 5; snout 3; D. XI, 14; A. Ill, 8; scales in longitudinal series 

 above lateral line 70 (56 oblic{ue rows) ; in longitudinal series below 

 63; in lateral line 54; in transverse series, dorsal to insertion to 

 ventrals 12/24; gill rakers 7+13; pyloric caeca 5 or 6. 



Body compressed, deep; dorsal profile somewhat more convex than 

 ventral; a slight concavity above orbit. Caudal peduncle from last 

 anal rays to last vertebra 2J in head, its depth 2^ to 2J. Jaws sub- 

 equal ; maxillary ending under front margin of orbit or slightly before ; 

 on premaxillary one or two canines on either side, the inner pair if 

 present, smaller; on both jaws an outer row of larger teeth, smallest 

 on lower jaw; inner teeth of both jaws villiform or bristle-like, in 

 narrow bands; on vomer an inverted V-shaped patch of villiform 

 teeth; on palatines narrow bands, none on tongue. Gill rakers mod- 

 erate in length, one-half diameter of eye in young. Preoperculum 

 with shallow notch, margin finely serrated above, more coarsely 

 below, and on horizontal border. No interopercular knob present. 

 Subopercle broader than usual, one-third diameter of eye fin young). 



Dorsal spines of moderate length and strength, fourth and longest 

 2| in head, remainder slightly less; tenth, the penultimate, being 2^ 

 in head. Dorsal rays longest in sixth and seventh, which are 2 in 

 head. Longest anal spine third, contained 2§ in head, but weaker 

 than second; longest anal ray 2 in head. Pectoral and ventral 

 length 1| in head, former reaching to and latter past anus. Spinous 

 dorsal base 3 in body length to last vertebra, soft dorsal base 4^, anal 

 base 6. Caudal slightly emarginate. 



Scales ctenoid. Bases of soft dorsal and anal scaled to a third of 

 their height, on caudal over basal half. Rows on body oblique above 

 and horizontal below lateral line. Occiput scaleless in posterior part, 

 save for temporal rows, which are in 1 or 2 series of about 7 scales 

 each. On preopercle 6 rows, on opercle and subopercle 9 rows, the 

 lowermost with 10 scales. 



