No.:263. JAPANESE TRACHINOID FISHES— JORDAN AND SNYDER. 475 
II. URANOSCOPUS JAPONICUS Houttuyn. 
TEMONDAI-OKOSE (OBSERVATORY SCULPIN). 
Uranoscopus japonicus Houttuyx, Holl. Maats. Wet. Harlem, 1782, p. 311; 
Nagasaki. — Jordan and Sxyder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1900, p. 745. 
Uranoscopus asper ScHhEGEh, Fauna Japonica, 1846,.p. 26, pi. ix, fig. 1; Nagasaki. — 
Richardson, Ichth. China, 1846, p. 211.— GtJNTHER, Cat. Fish., II, 1860, 
p. 228; Japan. — Nvstrom, Svensk. Vet. Akad., 1887, p. 28; Nagasaki. — 
IsHiKAWA, Prel. Cat., 1897, p. 46; Tokio, Kii. — Jordan and Snyder, Proc. 
U. S. Nat. Mus., 1900, p. 369; Tokio. 
Head 3| in leno-th; depth, 4:^; depth of caudal peduncle, 2f in head; 
eye, 6i; interorbital space, 5; snout, 7; D. IV-14; A. 13; scales in 
lateral series 64. 
Body robust, fusiform, comi ressed at caudal peduncle; head flat 
above, snout very short, mouth vertical; length of maxillary contained 
i^iV times in head; teeth small, in a narrow band on upper jaw, in two 
rows on lower jaw. in villiform bands on vomer, palatines, and pharj^n- 
geals. Eyes small, located on upper side of head, directed obliquely 
upward. Gill rakers on first arch obsolete, represented by a few small 
V)unches of set^e. Top and sides of head with moderately rugose bony 
plates; the dorsal plate extending forward between the eyes where it 
is divided hj a deep depression; the preorbital plate with a blunt 
spine; preopercle with 3 blunt spines on lower edge, humeral spine of 
var3-ing length, about 3 in head, a small blunt spine above the latter. 
Gill membrane with a fringe. 
Scales small, square, deeply embedded; arranged in about 64 oblique 
rows; occiput, a narrow strip along base of dorsal, breast, belly, and 
a narrow area along anal tin, naked; lateral line extending along base 
of dorsal fin. 
Dorsals separate, the spines very slender, the highest about 4 in 
head; anterior rays highest, 2 in head. Anal inserted below first ray 
of dorsal, the fin-membrane and especially the branched portion of the 
rays fleshy; caudal convex posteriorly; middle rays of pectoral long- 
est; ventrals about li in head; a strong spine projecting forward from 
each side of base of fin. 
Color in alcohol, yellowish w hite, the sides and upper parts brown- 
ish; on the dorsal parts of the head and body the brown color occurs 
in reticulations which map out whitish spots and rings of ver}^ irregu- 
lar outline, those in the head much smaller than those in the body; 
spinous dorsal black; soft dorsal with small dusky spots along the ravs; 
caudal and pectoral dusky, narrowly edged with white; anal with a 
little dusk}' color. 
Coasts of Japan, generalh' common southward, here described from 
a specimen 250 millimeters long from Yokohama. We have many 
other examples from Wakanoura. It was also seen at Hakata, Misaki^ 
and Tokyo. 
