654 FROCEEDIXas OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxiv. 
3 in head, vay^ slig-htl}' longer; tin membranes ver}" thin and trans- 
parent, notched between the spines. Caudal rounded, its length If in 
head. Ventrals reaching" half-way between their l)ase and insertion of 
anal. Upper rays of pectoral longest, 2i in head. 
Color in spirits plain throughout, except a small brownish blotch 
at base of anterior part of spinous dorsal and across basal half of 
ventrals. 
According to Gimther and Bleeker the body is yellowish olive, the 
snout unmarked, reticulated brown lines on hinder half of head, on 
body, and on soft parts of vertical iins; subopercle covered by several 
brown lines; two irregular blackish blotches on tail; dorsal with a 
blackish spot between first and second spines. 
Of this species we have an example, very badly faded, from the 
Riukiu Islands, one of three numbered 514 in the Imperial Museum at 
Tokyo. Only the dark spot on front of dorsal and a dark shade across 
ventrals remain of its original coloration. It agrees in form with 
oxyrhynchus of Bleeker, and without much doul^t belongs to that 
species. 
{oSvz, sharp; pvyxvs^ snout). 
24. INIISTIUS Gill. 
Iniistius GiiAj, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pliila., 1862, p. 148 (pavo) . 
Xyrichthys Bleeker, Atlas Ichth., 1862, p. 149 (pavo), not of Cuvier. 
Body compressed, oblong, covered with large thin scales, about 26 
in the lateral line; head scaleless or very nearly so; head short and 
deep, the upper and anterior outline compressed to a sharp edge; pro- 
file almost vertical; eye small, placed high. Dorsal spines 9; the fin 
rays, D. II, 7, 12; A. 111,12; first two dorsal spines detached from the 
others and inserted on or close behind the occiput; lateral line inter- 
rupted, extending on the second row of large scales below the dorsal 
sheath; canines 2 in front of each jaw; no posterior canines. This 
genus contains some 5 or 6 species, chiefly of the western Pacific. 
They are simihir in most respects to the species of Xyrichthys^ differ- 
ing chiefly in having the two anterior spines of the dorsal fin produced, 
separated from the others, and placed as a separate fin on the nape. 
{iviov^ nape; iffriov^ sail; in allusion to the first dorsal fin on the 
nape.) 
42. INIISTIUS DEA (Schlegel). 
TEISU (HUSBAND); CHIDAI (BROAD PERCH); BENI KUSABE (RED 
WEDGE FISH). 
Xyrichthys ilea Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Pois.s., 1846, p. 171, pi. lxxxvii; 
Nagasaki. 
Novacula dea Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sci. Indo-Nederl., Ill, Japan. IV, p. 20; 
Nagasaki.— GtJNTHER, Cat. Fish., IV, 1862, p. 175; Nagasaki. — Steindach- 
NER, Fische Japans, IV, 1887, p. 20; Tokyo, Kochi. — Karoli, Prodr. Pise. 
