ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY OP THE SEAS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 303 



Sir Edward Belcher and Sir James Ross brought home examples of this species, which 

 have been deposited in the British Museum. 



Hab. Seas of China (Belcher). New Zealand and Australia (Ross). 



Astronesthes nigra, Richardson, Ichth. of Voy. of Sulphur, p. 97. 

 pi. 50. f. 1-3. 



Sir Edward Belcher obtained two specimens. 



Hab. China seas. ? , 



Leucosoma chinensis. Osbeck (Alhula), Voy. i. p. 385. Leucosoma 



reevesii, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 4; Icon. Reeves, 144; Hardw. Malac. 212. 



Chinese name, Pih fan yu, " White rice fish" (Birch) ; Pih fan yu, 



" White fan yu" (Reeves); Pak fan u (Bridgem. Chrest. 244); Pack' 

 fanny (Osbeck). Rad. " B. 3 ;" D. 1 1 ; A. 25 ; C. 19|f ; P. 10 ; V. 6 vel 7. 



(Spec. Reev.) 



Examples of this fish exist in the British Museum, where they were deposited by Mr. 

 Reeves and General Hardwicke, in the Chinese collection at Hyde Park, and in the Cam- 

 bridge Philosophical Institution, to which they were presented by the Rev. George Vachell. 

 As Osbeck's generic appellation was in his day generally applied to the Coregoni, it is pro- 

 bable that he did not consider this fish as presenting peculiar generic characters, and had no 

 intention of restricting the name of Albula to this species ; Mr. Gray's expressive one of Leu- 

 cosoma is therefore the proper generic appellation for this very peculiar form : besides, Bloch 

 after Osbeck gave the name of Albula to the genus Butirinus, and its re-introduction would 

 lead to confusion. It is the " white bait" of the foreign residents at Macao. 



Body elongated, roundish anteriorly ; compressed and higher at the dorsal, which is far back, 

 the compression increasing in the tail, which is again more slender. A furrow runs along the 

 top of the back to the front of the dorsal and reappears behind that fin. There is likewise a 

 furrow from the ventrals to the anus, and the very low posterior part of the anal stands also 

 in a furrow. The body is scaleless and transparent, so that the muscles, intestines and spinal 

 column can be seen without dissection. Head and jaws very much depressed, presenting a 

 mere edge in profile, but when viewed from ubove, showing a lanceolate outline much 

 like the bill of a Tyrannula. The head appears to be composed chiefly of thin, flexible and 

 diaphanous bone. A fine short mesial ridge exists at the end of the snout, and farther back there 

 is a rhomboidal membranous space, which is perforated by three holes, through each of which 

 a tooth of the lower jaw protrudes when the mouth is closed. The velum of the upper jaw is 

 posterior to this membranous space. The eyes are lateral and encroach both on the upper 

 and under profiles of the head. Two minute nasal orifices are situated a short way before 

 each eye. The jaws are equal and the short cleft of the mouth is nearly horizontal, but with 

 a slight arching in the middle. The maxillary curves over the angle of the mouth, and send- 

 ing a fine slip in front of the end of the intermaxillary, forms a considerable part of the mar- 

 gin of the upper jaw. About four widely separated, subulate, recurved teeth arm the limb of 

 each intermaxillary ; and between the foremost of these canines and the tip of the jaw there are 

 several much smaller ones in a single series. A close pectinated row of short teeth edges the 

 maxillary ; and the lateral teeth of the lower jaw are also smaller and more numerous'than 

 the upper ones: but in front, a little within the narrow, unarmed tip of the jaw, three strong 

 teeth stand in a triangle and pass through the holes above mentioned. The palatine bones 

 are finely toothed on the edge, but there are no teeth on the vomer, which is not at all pro- 

 minent. A row of strong recurved teeth runs along the middle of the pointed tongue. The 

 gill-cover is convex and curves in so as to touch its fellow on the under surface of the head ; 

 the opening is large and is partly seen on the upper surface of the head. The gill-membrane 

 unites with the isthmus about one-third nearer to the eye than to the tip of the gill-cover. 

 The ventrals are attached rather before the middle of the fish, the first dorsal considerably 

 farther back, and the adipose fin over the hinder part of the anal, which is wholly behind the 

 dorsal. The first stout ventral ray is jointed, but 1 gan perceive no joints in the short anterior 

 ray of the dorsal and anal. The first two rays of the dorsal are graduated and incumbent on 

 the base of the third one, which is the tallest ; the three anterior rays of the anal are also im- 

 bedded in the base of the fin*. The pectoral is obliquely truncated, and the caudal is acutely 

 notched at the end. On the base of the fin above and below there is a seam-like edge which 

 is supported by fourteen short rays. The gut appears to be a straight tube without convolu- 

 tions, but I did not ascertain the absence of pyloric caeca. Length "i\ inches. 



Hab. Canton. 



* There is probably some variety in the numbers of the rays as in notes of the specimen 

 belonging to the Cambridge Philosophical Society I find them recorded as D. 14 ; A. 30. 

 The numbers given above correspond better with the enumeration of Osbeck and Gray. 



