ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 231 



Serranus aka-ara, Temm. et Schl. F. J. p. 9. pi. 3. f. 1. 



Bad. D. 11115 ; A. 3|8. (Burger's Spec. Brit. Mus.) 



D. 11(16; A. 3|8; C. 17; P. 15 ;• V. 1|5. (F.Jap.) 



The British Museum possesses one of Burger's specimens of this fish, which was labelled 

 kazzo ara. 



Hab. Sea of Japan. 



Serranus shjhpan*, Icon. Reeves, 71 : Hardw.Acanth.39. Chinese name, 

 Shihpan (Reeves); Shikpanu (Bridgem. Chrest. 59). Bad. D. 11|16; 

 A. 3|8 ; C. 17| ; P. 16 vel 17 ; V. 1|5. (Spec. Brit. Mus.) 

 I have been strongly inclined to consider this fish as identical with the preceding one, but 

 nothing is said in the ' Fauna Japonica' of the dark bars which cross the body, and which are 

 very evident both in the dried specimens and in those preserved in spirits. The species ap- 

 pears to be common in the China seas and to attain the size of 16 or 18 inches. We have 

 seen examples of it in the Chinese collection at Hyde Park, the British Museum, and the 

 Cambridge Philosophical Institution. 



Teeth rather small, each intermaxillary armed by a curved canine. In the lower jaw the 

 canines are longer, and the outer row is composed of subulate teeth set widely. The chevron 

 of the vomer is acute and small, and the dental bonds of the palate bones are narrow and 

 feebly toothed. The limbs of the preoperculum meet at rather less than a right angle, the upper 

 one slightly convex and acutely toothed, the lower one almost straight, with microscopical cre- 

 natures. In some specimens, the coarse teeth at the angle of the bone are divided by a notch 

 into two groups, in others there are two strong divergent teeth at the angle ; the bone is densely 

 scaly up to the teeth. In Mr. Reeves's figure the preoperculum is shown of too parabolic a 

 form. The operculum ends in three acute teeth, the middle one being the largest; t^he tip of 

 the gill-cover is slender and acute ; smali scales cover the lower jaw, and the scales on the body 

 are strongly ciliated ; the lateral line is conspicuous and formed of a series of tubes, one on 

 each scale inclined upwards, and the fins are scaly to near their tips. Five or six dark bars 

 cross the sides, two of them running up on the spinous dorsal, and two on the soft fin, which 

 is also traversed in the middle by a cross-bar. The bars are irregular in form, and the caudal 

 fin is crossed by two or three less distinct ones. The body and head are marked by round red 

 spots, much as aka-ara is represented to be in the ' Fauna Japonica,' and there are some 

 larger faint red marks on the spinous dorsal. The anal and pectoral are both crossed by dusky 

 bars or clouds, and the ventrals are edged with the same. All the under-parts of the head and 

 body are auvora-red. The Chinese name has been attached to this species as a provisional 

 designation until the suspicion above-mentioned of its identity with the aka-ara be proved or 

 disproved. 



Hab. China seas. Canton (Reeves, Vachell, &c). 



Serranus variegatus, Icon. Reeves, 87 ; Hardw. Acanth. 22. Chinese 



name, Ta shihpan, "Variegated garoupa" (Reeves). Bad. D. 11|10; 



2|7> &c. (Reeves's drawing.) 



Were it not for the small number of rays in the soft dorsal indicated in the figure here 

 quoted, I should have no hesitation in saying that it is the representation merely of a young 

 individual of the shih pan. The cross bands, however, are fewer, broader and fainter. The 

 buff-coloured ground tint and the deep orange-red spots are the same in both. In the varie- 

 gatus these spots form two rows on both the spinous and soft parts of the dorsal, and also on 

 the upper half of the tail ; and there are two black spots with pale borders on the latter fin. 

 All the vertical fins are obscurely clouded or banded, and the pectorals are buff-coloured with 

 orange borders and black bases. We have seen no specimen that corresponds to this figure, 

 which measures 5£ inches. 



Hab. China seas. Canton. 



Serranus awo-ara, Temm. et Schl. F. J. Sieb. p. 9. pi. 3. f. 2. Bad, 



D. 11|16; A. 3|8. (Spec, of Burger's, Brit. Mus.) 



One of Burger's specimens, now in the British Museum, has been carefully compared with 

 Mr. Reeves's drawings, and not identified with any of them. The yellow borders of the fins 

 distinguish this fish when recent. 



Hab. Sea of Japan. 



Serranus ura, C. et V. ii. p. 332. S. ara, Temm. et Schl. F. J. Sieb. p. 9. 



Having seen neither specimens nor figures of this fish, we are unable to say, from the short 

 * The words shih pan means " stone-coloured stripe." 



