NO. 1254. GYMNODONT FISHES OF JAPAN— JORDAN AND SNYDER. 237 
tho fourth or fifth ray longest. Caudal truncate, the upper and lower 
ravs slio-htly leng-thened at tips. Posterior edge of pectoral straight 
or slightly convex; length 2 in head. 
Color dark slaty gray above, belly white; sides of head closely 
sanded with bhick points; rest of body almost uniforiiilj" colored, 
without distinct points; dorsal and caudal black, the tip darkest. 
Schlegers description and figure of the species is founded on a stuffed 
skin, which accounts for the prominence of the prickles and the short- 
ening of the space between the head and the insertion of the dorsal fin. 
Coasts of Japan; here described from a fine specimen about 480 
mm. long from Hakodate. 
Two specimens, about 350 mm, long, from Misaki, agree with the 
above description except that they are very finely marbled above. 
Another of about the same length from Nagasaki is also finely marbled; 
in some places entirely black, {GriKtog, spotted; vrotog^ back. 
5. SPHEROIDES INERMIS (Schlegel). 
KANABUKU (METAL PUFFER). 
Tetrodon inermis Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, 1847, p. 278, pi. cxxii, fig. 2, 
Shimabara. 
Head 3|; depth 3; dorsal rays 12; anal rays 12, Body rather elon- 
gate, the lateral fold distinct; back entirely smooth; belly with small 
spines; fins rather falcate; the caudal lunate, with pointed angles. 
Color olive-green, unmarked; sides and below silvery. (Schlegel.) 
Southern Japan, once taken at Shimabara in Kiusiu, not seen by us; 
evidently very close to the American species S. Imvigatus. {mermis^ 
unarmed.) 
6. SPHEROIDES PORPHYREUS (Schlegel). 
NAMERABUKU (SLEEK PUFFER). 
leirodon porphyreus Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, 1847, p. 282, pi. cxxi, tig. 1, 
Nagasaki. — Gunther, Cat. Fish., VIII, 1870, p. 287 (after Schlegel). — 
Nystrom, Handl. K. Svensk. Vet. Akad., 1887, p. 48, Nagasaki. 
Head 2f; depth 3; dorsal rays 11; anal rays 12, Body rather stout, 
the tail shortish, the distance from-vent to base of caudal less than 
half the distance to tip of snout; lateral fold wanting or reduced to a 
trace; skin everywhere smooth, the back with scattered papillre; fins 
falcate, the caudal lunate, the anal li in head. Color purplish brown 
above, white below^; a large blackish blotch behind pectoral; papillae 
pale. (Schlegel.) 
Coast of Kiusiu; not seen by us. Said to be taken at Nagasaki in 
winter. [Ttop^vpeog, purple.) 
