ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OP THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 261 



Gomphosus cepedianus, Quoy et Gaim. Freycinet, pi. 55. fig. 2 ; C. et V. 

 xiv. p. 18. pi. 390. 



A specimen, seven inches long, exists in Sir Edward Belcher's collection. 

 Hab. Sea of China ? the Sandwich Isles, Carolines, and Otaheiti. 



Novacula pentadactyla, " Ankarkrona Mem. de Stockh. An. 1740 

 (Blennius), i. p. 451. pi. 3. f. 2; " C. et V. xiv. p. 67. Coryphcena pen- 

 tadactyla, Bl. 173. 

 Hab. China seas. Celebes. 



Xyrichthys puniceus, Richardson. Icon. Reeves, 184; Hardw. i. 306. 



This drawing represents a fish having a profile more vertical than that of the European 

 cultratus and much like that of RuppelFs bimaculata, but with a proportionally higher body, 

 a taller first dorsal ray, larger filiform tip to the ventrals, apparently no scales on the cheek, 

 a much less rounded caudal, larger front teeth, and a lateral spot placed nearly, like that of 

 pavo, on the seventh or eighth scale of the lateral line and rising above it. As near as one can 

 judge from description alone, its form seems to be like that of X. cyanifrons of the ' Histoire 

 des Poissons,' but its colours do not correspond and its black lateral mark distinguishes it. 



The colours of the upper and lower part of the sides and the disc of the caudal fin are 

 bright carmine, the middle of the flanks from the pectoral to the hinder part of the anal being 

 pale buff orange, as are also the membranes of the dorsal and anal. The top of the head and 

 back above the lateral line which terminates at the base of the last dorsal ray are lavender- 

 purple ; the trunk of the tail, which is bisected by the short second portion of the lateral 

 line, being wholly carmine. Each scale throughout the body has a deeper coloured meniscoid 

 segment on its edge, but of the same tint with its much paler disc. The cheeks are carmine 

 with red-lilac-purple gill-pieces, throat and breast. The profile of the head, from the nape 

 to the dorsal, is edged with a blue and green stripe, and there are six or seven wavy crimson 

 streaks on the temples, and a few faint longitudinal ones on the operculum. Two rows of 

 blue dots run along the summit of the back, and three rows along the belly, beginning at the 

 ventrals and thinning off at the end of the anal. An oval black mark without a pale border 

 is placed on the lateral line at the seventh scale, most of the spots being above the line. The 

 anterior dorsal ray, which is nearly equal in height to the nape and twice as tall as the 

 other rays, is blue, and three blue lines, more or less interrupted, run along the fin, which is 

 shaded on the edge with lake-red. The anal has a blue line along its base, and its rays are 

 blue with red tips. The upper and under edges of the caudal are buff orange, and its pos- 

 terior rounded edge pale or whitish. Ventrals lemon-yellow with purple rays, and the pec- 

 torals purple at the base, shaded at the top into blackish-gray. Length of drawing 7£ inches. 



Hab. China seas. Canton. 



In the Chinese collection at Hyde Park there are drawings of another species or variety of 

 Xyrichthys. 



Xyrichthys dea, Temm. et Schl. F. J. Sieb. pi. 87. 



Hab. Sea of Japan. 



Cheilinus nebulosus, Richardson. Bad. D. 9|10; A. 3|8 ; C. 16^; P. 

 12; V. 1|5. 



This species seems to be nearly allied in form and in being banded vertically to the Ch. 

 quinquecinctus of Riippell, but the caudal is much less notched between the points of the 

 rays, the anal is rounded at the top and not so long, the profile of the forehead more even 

 and sloping, the snout more slender, and the pale and vertical bands differently placed. It 

 agrees with quinquecinctus in having two rows of scales on the cheek, and in the bases of the 

 vertical fins being sheathed by large scales like a Cossyphus. It differs from Ch. fasciatus, 

 Bl. 257, in having a truncated and slightly rounded caudal, as well as in the profile and dis- 

 position of the dark bands. 



The muzzle is slender, the profile of the face straight and sloping, nearly touching the eye, 

 and the nape very slightly arched. The height of the body is contained three times and a 

 half in the total length, caudal included. Of this length the head forms rather less than 

 one-third. The dorsal is rather less rounded at the tip than the anal, and they are nearly of 

 equal length, neither of them passing the base of the caudal. The rays of the caudal are 

 forked at the tips, and scarcely project beyond the membrane. The ventrals are attached 

 under the axilla of the pectorals, being somewhat further back than in Ch. quinquecinctus, as 

 represented by Riippell. The two anterior teeth of each jaw are so much larger than the 

 others as to appear like canines, and behind the upper ones are three or four bluntish teeth. 

 On the limbs of both jaws the teeth are in a single series, diminishing slightly as they approach 



