592 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.41. 



Snout much rounded in profile; premaxillaries vertical or slightly 

 receding, their upper margin at or below level of lower border of eye, 

 in very young the premaxillaries protrude as in the other species. 

 Maxillary ending under or slightly behind anterior border of eye. 

 Depth of cheek from eye to horizontal border of preopercle greater 

 than its length from end of maxillaries to vertical margm. Vertical 

 margin of preopercle finely serrated, lower but partially. Teeth 

 three pointed. Gill-rakers 22 on lower limb of first arch. 



Dorsal spines increasing to last, which is 2 in head. Dorsal rays 1^. 

 Second anal spine equal to third, 2J in head. Pectoral 1^ in head, 

 ventrals 1|, the latter's spines 2 J. Posterior angle of dorsal not 

 pointed. Anal margin rounded, as is pectoral tip. Caudal emargi- 

 nate or lunate, less nearly truncate in young, angles not very sharp. 



Scales roughly ctenoid. Head scaled to above anterior margin of 

 eyes, and on all opercles but the interopercle, including the lower 

 half of the opercle. Rows extending up both anal and dorsal spines, 

 and over basal half of soft fins. 



Color in alcohol comparatively light, darker above. A conspicuous 

 white band usually present across body from eighth or ninth dorsal 

 spines toward anus, never reaching it, and vanishing sometimes before 

 lateral line, this band more indistinct with age, or even becoming 

 obsolete. Dorsal, anal, and caudal dark, apparently somewhat mot- 

 tled. Pectorals and ventrals lighter, former with an mdistinct bar 

 across its base, latter darker above. Scale rows marked by darker 

 margin of scales. Opercular flap pale. 



Of this species we have seen the original type, from the Riu Kiu 

 Islands, and one example taken by Professor Snyder at Misaki. 



(Mejina, the local name.) 



32. GIRELLA MELANICHTHYS (Richardson). 

 KTTROMEJINA (black mejina). 



Melanichihys Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, 1844, p. 75, pi. 39, 



(Nagasaki). 

 ? Crenidens leonina Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 242, (Can- 

 ton); {may he Girella mezina) . 

 Girella leonina Jordan and Starks, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 32, 1907, p. 496, 



fig. 4 (Wakanoura). 

 Crenidens melanichihys Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 243 (after 



Temminck and Schlegel). 

 Girella melanichihys Bleeker, Enum. Poiss., Verh. kon. Akad. Amst., vol. IS, 



1879, p. 8 {= Melanichihys Schlege\= Melanichihys crenidens Bleeker), [Kiusiu, 



Nagasaki]. 

 Melanichihys crenidens Bleeker, Nieuwe Nalez. Verh. Bat. Gen., vol. 26, 1857, 



p. 20 (=Crenidens melanichihys Richardson) (Japan, China). 



Habitat. — Southern Japan and China. 



Description of a specimen 145 mm. in body length from Wakanoura, 

 Japan. 



