CO129-554-6 Hong Kong University- 1. Appointment of Dr. Chen Shas Yi as head of Chinese Department... 18-3-1935 - 28-10-1935 — Page 62

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A SYNOPSIS OF THE FISHES OF CHINA.

PART V continued.

The Cods, Opahs, Flounders, Soles, John Dories, Berycoids, Pipe Fishes, Silversides, Mullets, Barracudas and Thread Fishes.

by

HENRY W. FOWLER,

ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.

Order HYPOSTOMIDES.

The Dragon Fishes.

Body covered with bony plates, firmly joined on trunk, movable on tail. Snout extended forward above mouth, not tubular. Mouth inferior, toothless. Gill openings narrow. Gill cover formed by large plate corresponding to opercle, preopercle and subopercle. No pseudobranchiae. Gills 4, laminated. One branchiostegal, rudimentary. Lower pharyngeals separate. bladder. Dorsal and anal short, of soft rays only. Pectoral large, of elongate rays, sometimes spinous. Ventral abdominal, with spine and 1 to 3 rays.

One family, fantastic little fishes of Asiatic seas.

Family Pegasidae.

The Sea Moths.

No air

Body broad, greatly depressed. Tail with 4 angles. Snout prolonged. Mouth small, edge formed by premaxillaries. No teeth. Suborbital ring well developed, forms suture with gill cover. Intestinal canal short. Vertebrae few, no ribs. Dorsal short, opposite similar anal. Caudal small. Pectoral broad, very large, horizontal. Ventral well behind pectoral, not far from vent, of 1 or 2 rays, 1 very long.

Synopsis of the Genera.

a'. Tail short, with but 8 rings, not long as rest of body. a2. Tail longer, with 11 to 15 rings, longer than rest of body.

PEGASUS.

PARApegasus.

PEGASUS Linnaeus.

Sea Moths.

Pegasus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, pt. 1, 1758, p. 338. Type Pegasus volitans Linnaeus, monotypic.

Trunk short, broad, greatly depressed. Tail short, not elongate or compressed, with but 8 rings. Snout more or less extended. Mouth inferior. Suborbital well developed, forms suture with gill cover. Intestinal tract rather short, with 1 or 2 complete circumvolutions. Vertebrae not numerous, thin. No ribs. Pectoral rays all simple, slender, not spine like. Ventral with 1 or 2 rays, outer longer.

The Hong Kong Naturalist.