740 
to bear two Chinese inscriptions, one in ink and one in pencil. The 
leadpencil inscriptions, except those of Chinese characters, are in the 
handwriting of Bleeker. The transliteration in ink is by J. J. Hoff- 
man, the eminent Sinologist of Leiden, a letter from whom is now on 
file with the collection. He states that the name of the fish illustrated 
is ’Tseuk shin‘. Professor J. J. de Groot, at present Sinologist at 
Leiden, translates it as meaning ‘‘sparrow eel”. I am much indebted 
to Professor de Groot for his kindness in examining these inscriptions. 
Now to examine the picture itself. At first sight it appears deci- 
dedly grotesque, but a close comparison with specimens of our garpikes 
immediately discloses points indicating great accuracy in the reproduc- 
tion of garpike characters. The head, to be sure, shows distinctly the 
Chinese predilection toward picturing hideous dragons, but even here 
the large eye, the plainly marked opercular elements, the fine sharp teeth, 
are garpike characters not to be mistaken. On the body the rhomboid 
arrangement of the scales is very clear; the general form of the body is 
much like that of Lepisosteus tristoechus; the fins occupy precisely the ___ 
places they occupy in garpikes, and especially is this apparent in the 
dorsal fin set far back on the body. And finally the color (of course 
not indicated in the reproduction) is not so very unlike what we have 
in our gars; the color of the fins quite vividly recalls that of the fins of 
Amia. Taking the picture as a whole, and barring a hardly believable 
accidental resemblance, it seems to me at least, that it is based on an 
actual and recently captured specimen of a Lepisosteid. 
The fact that these pictures were made in China and brought tog- 
ether there by van Basel as early as 1832 or there-abouts is well 
authenticated. Remembering this fact, there seem to be only three 
possibilities as to the origin of this picture of Lepisosteus: 
1) A Chinese artist may have made it, while on the Atlantic side 
of the Rocky Mountains, or in Central America or Mexico; the chance 
of this being the case is so remote as hardly to need any consideration, 
to say nothing of the meager chance such an artist, granting the above 
contingency, would have of seeing this particular form. 
2) The picture may have been made from accounts and sketches 
given to the Chinese artist by some European, acquainted with living 
Lepisostei in America, and interested enough in them to carry with him 
in memory the details of scaling, fin position, and coloration. Considering 
our relations to the Orient in those early days, this possibility seems to 
be at least as remote as the first. 
3) There remains only the possibility that the picture was made 
from a living or recently dead specimen taken in Chinese waters. I see 
every reasons therefore for accepting it as a fact that a Zepesosteus oc- 
