A REVIEW OF THE TRACHINOID FISHES AND THEIR SUP-POSED ALLIES FOUND IN THE WATERS OF JAPAN. By David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder, Ofthe-Leland Stanford Junior University. In the present paper is given an account of the fishes of Japan belong-itig to families which have been regarded hitherto as allied to the Trac'hinid{\^. The material examined was for the most part collected by the writers during the summer of 1I)(»(», under the auspices of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory of Stanford University, although sev-eral specimens were obtained by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Alhatross. Series of types are in the nmseum of Stanford University and in the United States National jMuseum. Tht> illustrative draw-ings are the work of Mr. A. H. Baldwin and Chloe Lesley Starks. The group Trachinoidea comprises a series of transitional forms, showing affinities with the Percoidea on the one hand and with the Batrachoididic and Blennoidea on the other. In general, the spinous dorsal is .short or weak, the soft dorsal long and similar to the anal, the ventral jugular and the s<|uamation is less complete and less ctenoid than in the Percoidea. The skull is, in general, depressed, with the supraocular crest low, and the suborbital stay is wanting, although in some genera the suborbital ])ones are enlarged. The bones of the skull are not stronolv armed, and the ventral fins always inserted \\(>11 forward, and they are sometimes reduced in size. According to recent studies of Dr. Boulengcr,^ the Trachinidee proper have the hypercoracoid imperforate, as in the (Tadida\ Their general relationship with the cod-fishes and ])lennies is such that Boulcngcr proposes to revive the sul)order .Tugulares to include not only the (ladoid fishes, but the Ophidioid, Blennioid, and Trachinoid forms also, in fact, all fishes having truly jugular ventrals. Several families hitherto called Trachinoid, but which possess thoracic ven-trals, should be widely dissociated. In most cases their real place is not far from the Percoid forms. In the present paper these families are considered as well as the genuine Trachinoids. 'Ann. Miitf. Xat. Hist., 7th ser., VIII, 1901, pp. 261-271. Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXIV— No. 1263. 431
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