CO129-538-2 Hong Kong University 23-6-1932 - 15-3-1933 — Page 172

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HENRY W. FOWLER

Arius falcarius Richardson, Voyage Sulphur, Fishes, 1844, p. 134, pl. 62, figs. 7 to 9. China; Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 284 (Canton).— Günther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., vol. 5, 1864, p. 168 (China; type of Arius jalcarius).—Sauvage and De Thiersant, Ann. Sci. Nat. Paris, series 6, vol. 1, 1874, Zool., p. 7 (China).-Day, Fishes of India, pt. 4, 1878, p. 463, pl. 106, fig. 5 (China).—Peters, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1880, p. 924 (Ningpo). -Seale, Philippine Journ. Sci., vol. 9, 1914, p. 60 (Hong Kong).-Tchang, Cont. Biol. Lab. Sci. Soc. China, vol. 4, No. 4, 1929, p. (Nanking). -Wu, Cont. Biol. Lab. Sci. Soc. China, vol. 5, No. 4, 1929, p. 50, fig. 41 (Amoy).

Arius (Pseudarius) falcarius Bleeker, Nederl. Tijds. Dierk., vol. 4, 1874, p. 125 (compiled).

Canton.

Bagrus crinalis Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 282,

Pimelodus guttatus (not Lacépède) Richardson Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 286. Canton.

Canton,

Pimelodus mong Richardson, Ichth. China and Japan, 1846, p. 286.

Arius schlegeli Bleeker, Nederl. Tijds. Dierk., vol. 1, 1863, p. 146. China (Amoy); vol. 2, 1865, p. 56 (Amoy).

Depth 4; head 33/5; snout 21⁄2 in head; eye 64, 22/5 in snout, ? in interorbital; maxillary barbel reaches pectoral, outer mental 3/4, inner 2/3 of outer; interorbital 2 1/5 in head. Gill rakers 7+11. Cranium and occipital plate rugose striate, rather smooth to touch. Dorsal with spine and 6 rays; anal rays 5 simple and 14 branched. Neutral dusky or slate black above, more gray on sides, below whitish, Ends of maxillary and outer mental barbels blackish, otherwise whitish. Dorsal and caudal gray, dusky terminally. Anal and ventral whitish. Reaches 450 mm.

Hong Kong*, Canton, Swatow, Amoy, Ningpo, Nanking.—(India),

Order INIOMI.

The Lizard Fishes.

Shoulder girdle joined

formed entirely by the premaxillaries, thin

Gill opening wide.

post-temporal bone. Air bladder small or Fins all soft rayed. Adipose dorsal usually

Ventrals abdominal, sometimes thoracic,

Edges of upper jaws maxillary closely adnate above. to the skull by means of forked absent. Ovaries with oviduct. present. Pectoral inserted low.

A large group of marine fishes, chiefly of the deep seas. Its limita- tion of uncertain extent, though usually includes the sudids, lantern fishes, hand-saw fishes and several other small families all widely distributed, pelagic or inhabitants of the greater or lesser depths of the ocean. Aside from the collections made by the great oceanographic expeditions few of these fishes have ever been obtained or found their way into museums.

The Hong Kong Naturalist,

A Synopsis of the Fishes of China

Family Synodontidae.

The Lizard Fishes.

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very

wide.

Body oblong or elongate, little compressed. Mouth Teeth mostly cardiform, in jaws, on palatines and tongue, canines rarely present and large teeth usually depressible. Opercular bones thin, complete. Gill membranes separate, free from isthmus. Gill rakers tubercular or obsolete. Pseudobranchiae present. Branchiostegals usually numerous. Body covered with cycloid scales, rarely naked. Lateral line present.

Air vessel small or absent. Intestinal canal short. Eggs enclosed in sacs

of ovary and extruded through an oviduct. Scales cycloid, rarely absent or partly present. Lateral line complete, axial. Dorsal fin moder- ate or short, median, of soft rays only. Adipose fin present, small, rarely absent. Anal moderate or long. Caudal forked. Pectoral small, placed high. Ventral rather large, median.

Small or moderate sized fishes of the sandy shores of tropical or warm seas, some living in great depths and with unknown habits. As their appearance supposed to suggest lizards, especially the genera Synodus and Saurida, they have been called lizard fishes. They are usually placed near the very numerous fragile deep sea fishes known as the lantern fishes, or Myctophidae, which differ chiefly in the presence of luminous organs or the so called photophores.

Synopsis of the Genera.

a. Synodontinae. Teeth simple; mouth cleft deep, wide; flesh firm; scales

firmly adherent over entire body.

b. Teeth on palatine bones in single band on each side of mouth roof. c'. Snout very blunt, shorter than eye; anal longer than dorsal,

TRACHINOCEPHALUS.

c. Snout rather acute, longer than eye; anal much shorter than

dorsal

SYNODUS. 6. Teeth on palatine bones in 2 bands on each side of mouth roof.

SAURIDA.

a. Harpadontinae. Canine teeth of lower jaw barbed; flesh flabby, delicate;

scales very thin, mostly absent anteriorly on body.

TRACHINOCEPHALUS Gill.

Ground Spearing.

HARPADON.

Trachinocephalus Gill (Cat. Fish. East Coast North America), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1861, p. 53. Type Salmo myops Schneider, monotypic.

Body compressed, long, robust. Head compressed, large, deep. Snout very short, obtuse. Eye small, high, well advanced. Mouth large, oblique, lower jaw protruding. Teeth slender, small, close set, lower ex- posed. No gill rakers. No pscudobranchiac. Scales rather large, cycloid.

December 1932.

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