CO129-538-2 Hong Kong University 23-6-1932 - 15-3-1933 — Page 171

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HENRY W. FOWLER

about in the mouth and pharynx until they are hatched. Likely many, if not all, may have this habit of early parental care.

TACHYSURUS Lacépède. Sea Cats.

Tachysurus Lacepède, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 5, 1803, p. 151. Type Tachysurus sinensis Lacepède, monotypic,

Body elongate, little compressed, tapers posteriorly. Head with broad bony shield above, with occipital shield projecting toward bony buckler at front of dorsal fin; all these bones may be covered with very thin skin or exposed as granular or rugose surfaces; fontanelle or groove on top of head. Eyes above level of mouth. Teeth in jaws villiform, more or less granular, in band in each jaw. Palatine patches of teeth granular, without backward projecting angle on inner edge and never movable, He nasal barbel; maxillary pair usually short and terete or compressed; 2 lower mental pairs. Nostrils remote from each other. Gill rakers few, 5 to 25. Anal short. Caudal forked.

Marine or estuarine on the sandy shores of tropical seas and not frequenting coral reefs,

The following a doubtful species and may not belong in this genus:

Tachysurus stanneus (Richardson).

Seih yu (tin fish).

Galeichthys? stanneus Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 284. Canton.--Günther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., vol. 5, 1864, p. 182 (remarks).

Batrachocephalus mino Bleeker, Nederl. Tijds. Dierk., vol. 4, 1874, p. 125 (reference).

on

Depth over 5 of length; head 4 in total, wide, depressed. Snout rounded. Maxillary barbel shorter than head, longer than outer mandibulars and more than twice inner mandibulars. Nostrils round, without valves or barbels. Head smooth above, with less appearance of casque; granulations narrow interparietal process and small crutch at base of dorsal spine. Large triangular plate of humeral chain above pectoral covered with smooth skin, Dorsal and pectoral spines long, rather slender, former 3 body depth and serrated on both edges; adipose fin small; anal moderate; caudal deeply forked. Violet purple, passing to scotch blue and gradually changing to bright silvery on lower sides and under surface of head. Series of chevrons between pectoral and ventral, evidently correspond to ribs. Dorsal and caudal purplish brown. Under fins bluish. Length of drawing 388 mm. (Richardson).

Synopsis of the Species.

a1. Eye 4 to 5% in head; maxillary barbel reaches to middle or end of pectoral; 2 triangular patches of palatine teeth, approximating anteriorly; dorsal spine long as head.

caelatus.

The Hong Kong Naturalist.

A Synopsis of the Fishes of China

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a2. Eye 6 in head; maxillary barbel reaches to end of head; teeth on palate in 2 subtriangular patches, parallel along median line; dorsal spine long

sinensis. as eye and postocular part of head.

Tachysurus caelatus (Valenciennes).

Arius caelatus Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 15, 1840, p. 66. Batavia; Bombay.

Arius coelatus Bleeker, Verslag. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, series 2, vol. 4, 1870, p. 252 (China).

Depth 4 to 54; head 3% to 34/5; eye 4 to 5% in head, 134 in snout, 2 in interorbital; head shields granular. Gill rakers 8. Dorsal with spine and 7 rays; anal rays 19 or 20; pectoral with spine and 9 rays, shorter than dorsal; ventral rays 6. Blackish above, dark gray below. Adipose fin black. Fins mostly lark terminally. Reaches 300 mm.

China. (India, Siam, East Indies).

Figure 2. Tachysurus sinensis Lacepède.

Tachysurus sinensis Lacépède. Figure 2.

8.W.F

Sang maou (growing hair), Mang tze (grain or barley fish), Mong tze, Mong tsai, Leen yu (sickle fish), Lim u.

+

Tachysurus sinensis Lacépède, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 5, 1803, pp. 159, 151, pl. 5, fig. 2. Les peintures chinoises."--Rutter, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1897, p. 57 (Swatow).-Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel- phía, 1929, p. 6b: (Hong Kong).

Arius sinensis Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 284 (copied).—Günther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., vol. 5, 1864, p. 159 (copied). -Sauvage and De Thiersant, Ann. Sci. Nat, Paris, series 6, vol. 1, 1874, Zool., p. 7 (China).

Arius (Arius) sinensis Bleeker, Nederl. Tijds. Dierk., vol. 4, 1874,

p. 125 (name only).

Pimelodus tachisurus Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 15, 1840, p. 163 (on Lacepède).—Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 286 (China).

December 1932.