ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 285 



dibular pair, and more than twice as long as the interior pair. There is a large triangular 

 plate of the humeral chain above the pectoral which is covered with smooth skin. The dorsal 

 and pectoral spines are long and rather slender, the former being equal to two-thirds of the 

 height of the fish and serrated both before and behind. The latter is also serrated on both 

 sides, but only at the tip. The adipose fin rises abruptly from the back, and is small ; the 

 anal is of moderate size ; behind these fins the tail becomes narrower than usual in a siluroid, 

 but again expands where it is embraced by the base of the caudal. The caudal is deeply 

 forked with acute lobes. The lateral line is arched at the shoulder, and descends to the 

 middle height of the body over the ventrals, its course to the caudal fin being straight from 

 thence. The general colour is violet-purple passing into Scotch-blue, and gradually changing 

 to a bright silvery tint on the lower part of the sides and under surface of the head. A series 

 of chevrons are shown between the ventrals and pectorals evidently corresponding to the ribs. 

 The under fins are bluish, the dorsal and caudal purplish brown. Length of the drawing, 

 15£ inches. The Chinese name probably refers to the colour of the body. 

 Hah. Canton. 



Pimelodus guttatus, Lacepede, v. pp. 96 et 113. pi. 5. f. 1 ; C. et V. xv. 

 p. 143. Icon. Reeves, 129 et 130; Hardw. Malac. 161. Chinese name, 

 Hwa han, "Flowery or spotted chiton" (Birch); Ta kan, "Variegated 

 kan" (Reeves); Fa kom (Bridgem. Chrest. 196). Bad. D. 1|6; A. 1|8; 

 C. 15 ; P. 1|8 ; V. 8. (Fig. Reev.) Length of fig. 129, 1S| inches ; of 130, 

 16J inches. 



This species was known to Lacepede only by a Chinese drawing; and though Mr. Reeves's 

 drawings present both a top and side view whereby we can perceive that the fish has no casque, 

 yet from our ignorance of the dentition we cannot say positively that it belongs to the genus 

 Pimelodus as constituted in the ' Histoire des Poissons.' It has considerable resemblance to 

 Bagrus cavasius, possessing the eight barbels, long adipose and short anal which characterise 

 the group to which that species belongs, and which is equivalent to the genus Porcus of M. 

 Geoffroy St. Hilaire. On the other hand, it has also the external characters of the Pimelodes, 

 with a round head destitute of a casque and with eight barbels. In profile the head appears 

 conical and rather slender, with an acute snout which projects beyond the lower jaw, the face 

 and nape rising in a straight gentle acclivity to the dorsal. Viewed from above, the snout is 

 broadly rounded ; there is no appearance of a casque, and the distance between the eyes is 

 equal to a third of the length of the head. The head forms one-fourth of the length of the 

 fish, caudal excluded ; and the height of the body at the commencement of the dorsal is nearly 

 equal to a sixth of the length, caudal included. The maxillary barbels reach to the tip of 

 the pectoral. The outer pair of submandibular barbels are less than half that length, and the 

 other two and the nasal pair are still shorter. The pectoral spine is stout and very strongly 

 toothed behind, but no teeth are shown on the dorsal one in either figure. The dorsal termi- 

 nates over the first ventral ray, and the adipose fin commencing over the axilla of the ventrals 

 extends far past the anal and almost to the caudal, being nearly equal in length to a third of 

 the fish. The caudal is deeply notched with thick, rounded equal lobes. The lateral line 

 has a very slight decurvature as far as the ventrals, but is otherwise nearly straight and rather 

 nearer to the belly than to the back. The supra-axillary plate of the humeral chain is drawn 

 narrow and rather long. The colour of the back, top of the head and breast is brownish purple- 

 red ; the sides and belly white, with a faint wax-yellow or siskin-green reflexion. Many 

 transverse bars are shown, that meet en chevron near the back, and again less sharply at the 

 lateral line, which is green. The body, adipose fin, and caudal and the rays of the dorsal and 

 ventrals are marked with many scattered black spots of irregular shapes and sizes. The dor- 

 sal, adipose and caudal are yellowish-brown at the base, the rays of the pectoral are greenish, 

 and those of the ventrals and anal carmine. The membranes of most of the fins appear to be 

 thin and transparent. 



Icon. Reeves, 132; Hardw. Malac. 162. Chinese name, Hanyu, "Chiton 

 fish" (Birch); Kan yu, " Han tiled-fish" (Reeves); Kom it (Bridgem. 

 Chrest. 192). Figure 13 inches long. 



This is seemingly another representation of the same species, with the outline a little dis- 

 torted from the example placed before the artist having been in a more limber state. Hence 

 the profile, instead of rising from the snout in a straight acclivity, is undulated by the compa- 

 rative depression of the head and swelling out of the nape. Some serratures are shown at 

 the tip of the dorsal spine, and the silvery supra-axillary plate of the humeral chain is notched, 

 as in the figure of B. cavasius (Jacquemont, Voy. de l'lnde, pi. 16. f. 2): there are no other 

 perceptible differences of structure. The spots on the base of the caudal are more numerous, 

 but they are fewer and more scattered on the body than in the other figures, and there are 



