Notes on Aphrocailistes beatrix Gray, particularly 

 with reference to the form occuring in 

 East Asiatic seas. 



By 



Isao Ijima, Ph. D. 



In the " Valdivia " Report, F. E. Schulze ('04, pp. 146, 147) has ably- 

 pointed out that Aphrocailistes beatrix Gray '58, A. bocagei Wright '70 and 

 A. ramosus F. E. Schulze '87 are not specifically separable, but represent 

 one species which should go by the oldest name of A. beatrix. The same 

 author further remarked to the effect that Topent's A. azorietis (Tops. '01 

 p. 455 ; '04, p. 48), if this really be an Aphrocailistes, may possibly belong 

 within the range of A. beatrix. I entirely concur with him in the above 

 opinion. A. beatrix is then to be considered as an exceedingly variable 

 species, widely distributed in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Now, 

 from my studies I have come to entertain the idea that that species, as it 

 occurs along the Japanese coasts and in more southern seas of the Western 

 Pacific, — i.e. the same form of Aphrocailistes which F. E. Schulze ('87, 

 Chall. Rep.) had erstwhile referred in part to A. bocagei Wright and in part 

 made into his A. ramosus, — is characterized by certain common and fairly 

 constant features by which it may be distinguished in a way from the form 

 or forms occurring in other parts of the world, though the differentiation 

 can be of no more taxonomic significance than varietal or subspecific. For 

 the sake of convenience I will refer to the form of the East Asiatic seas by 

 the name of A. beatrix orientalis. 



Now, the following is a summary account of the form just mentioned, 

 coupled with remarks in comparison with what is known of specimens from 



