ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 203 



Pegasus latirostris, Richardson. 



Specimens exist in the British Museum, and are occasionally to be met with in the Chinese 

 insect-boxes. They have the general form of P. draco, but the beak is nearly as broad as it 

 is long. As in the others, the beak is grooved in the centre above and below, and the edges 

 of the upper groove are elevated so as to form a furrowed crest with an irregular outline. The 

 flat lateral plates of the snout are transversely ridged, and toothed on the edges by the points 

 of the ridges. In laternarius the edges of the inferior groove of the beak are elevated, and 

 the mesial line above is partially so, making seven ridges. The whole is shorter and much 

 narrower than that either of draco or latirostris, yet specimens of the latter with the lateral 

 edges of the beak mutilated may be mistaken for it. 



Hob. Sea of China. 



Solenostomus paradoxus, Pallas, Spic. viii. p. 32. t. 4. f. 6 (Fistularia). 



Seba, 3. 34. f. 2; Bl. Schn. p. 114. t. 30. f. 2. 



Hob. Amboyna. Probably China ? Some Chinese drawings appear to be extravagant 

 representations of this fish. 



Ordo Ctenobranchii. 



Fam. Lophiid^:. 



Lophius setigerus, Wahl, in skrivter af naturh. iv. p. 215. tab. 3. f. 5, 6. 

 L. viviparus, Bl. Schn. p. 142. t. 32. L. setigerus, C. et V. xii. p. 383 ; 

 Icon. Reeves, 161 ; Hardw. 299. Chinese name, Shin ma yu, "Quiver- 

 ing flax-fish" (Birch) ; Chin ma yu (Reeves) ; Chan ma u (Bridgem. 

 Chrest. 51). Rod. D.3-8 ; A. 9; C. 9; P. 17; V. l|5. 



Small specimens of this fish, pinned down and dried, abound in the boxes of insects sold 

 at the Chinese ports to foreigners. The museum at Haslar contains several of a larger size, 

 taken in the China seas by Sir Edward Belcher, but they have been unfortunately consider- 

 ably injured by friction during their voyage to England. Mr. Reeves's drawing of the 

 recent fish leaves however little to be desired. In form it agrees with Bloch's figure, but 

 the latter exaggerates the spines of the head. The humeral or coracoid spine is alike in both 

 representations. The general colour is hair-brown, finely marbled by a lighter tint on the 

 upper surface of the body and pectoral fins. A blackish mark speckled with white occupies 

 the pectoral axilla. The caudal is less sharply banded than in Bloch's figure ; a pinkish hue 

 spreads over the anal, which, like the dorsal, is unspotted. 



Hab. The Japanese and China seas. Canton. 



Cheironectes raninus, Tilesius, Mem. de Moscou, xi. pi. 16. Ch. mar- 



moratus, Cuv., Less, et Garnot, Voy. du Duperrey, pi. 16. f. 2 ; C. et V. 



xii. p. 402. 



M. Valenciennes considers the New Guinea Cheironectes, procured by the naturalists of La 

 Coquille, to be the same with that previously discovered on the coasts of Japan and named by 

 Tilesius. 



Hab. Coasts of Japan and New Guinea. 



Halieutea stellata, Wahl. (Lophius), Mem. d'Hist. Nat. de Copenh. 

 iv. p. 214. t. 3. an. 1797; Tilesius, Voy. de Krusenst. pi. 61. f. 3 et 4. 

 Lophius muricatus, Shaw, Zool. pi. 162 ; Icon. Reeves. 



Dried specimens of this fish exist in almost every ichthyological museum. Under surface 

 coloured, in Mr. Reeves's figure, of a bright lake-red. Upper surface aurora-red, clouded with 

 reddish-brown, with many specks of lake and groups of small black spots, the whole having a 

 freckled appearance. Fins bright lake-red with black edges. 



Hab. China and Japan. 



Tribus Cyclopodi (Miiller). 



Fam. Echeneidid;e. 



Echeneis naucrates, Lin. Bl. 171 ; Russell, 49. Australian remora, Griff. 



Cuv. 10, plate opposite to p. 504. Echeneis vittata, Riipp. Neue Wirlb. 



seite 82 ; Icon. Reeves, 97/* ; Hardw. Malac. 286, 287. 



On comparing specimens from the Caribbean and African seas, Polynesia, Western Australia, 

 and Bass's straits, no difference of any importance was detected, except in the number of fin- 



