842 



PROCEEDIXGS OF THE XATIOXAL MUSEUM. 



VOL. XXX. 



of head and body cycloid, growing slighth' ctenoid posteriorly; each 

 scale with a vertical, tuberculate ridge, imparting a characteristic 

 roughness to the covering of thebod}-; tins with minute scales; lateral 

 line following the contour of back; tirst dorsal spine very short, 

 almost entire h" concealed; the fifth raj longest, 1| in head; meml^rane 

 of spinous dorsal deeply incised >)etween spines, the attached portion 

 of the membrane extending halfwa}' up anterior edge of spine: longest 

 dorsal ray, 2| in head; edge of hn, rounded; origin of anal below base 

 of third dorsal ray; the spines strong and prominent, the second, -i^ 

 in head; margin of tin rather pointed in outline; pectoral unsym- 

 metrical, upper rays longest, 2^ in head; ventral, If; caudal, 6^, lunate. 

 Body olivaceous, with 6 broad lateral dusky stripes ; the tirst 

 extending along base of dorsal, the second following lateral line to 

 caudal peduncle where it joins the third, the fouith passing from 



Fl<;. 1. — STKKEOI.YPIS LSCHINAGI. 



base of pectoral to caudal, the tifth and sixth rather indi.stinct, merg- 

 ing near])aseof anal; head dusky a])ove; soft dorsal, anal and pectorals 

 strongly edged with dusky, the soft dorsal narrowly tipped with 

 whitish. 



Described from a specimen Itt inches long taken at Hakodate ))v the 

 U. S. Fish Commission Steamer Alhaf/'oss. 



In our explorations of Japan we saw specimens of the l.shinagi at 

 Hakodate, Tokjo, Yokohama, and Misaki. The largest of these was 

 al)out 6 feet in length. The species is apparently more common in 

 northern Japan than southward, the center of abundance being about 

 Hakodate <tnd the Straits of Tsugaru. 



This species is well separated from Stereoleph gigas Ayres, of the 

 coast of California. t»y the larger scales, and especially ])y the form of 



