THE FISHES OF OKINAWA, ONE OF THE RIU KIU ISLANDS. By John Otterbein Snyder, Of Stanford University, California. This account of the fishes of Okinawa is based on a collection made by members of the United States Bureau of Fisheries steamer Alba-tross at the time of her cruise during 1906 in the north Pacific Ocean and along the shores of Japan. On the arrival of the Albatross in Japan, the writer and Mr. Mchitaro Sindo, a student of Stanford University, were detached from the vessel and intrusted with a study of the shore fishes. The party visited various points along the coast from Otaru in Hokkaido to Oldnawa, one of the Riu Kiu Islands. Five days beginning with August 13 were spent at the latter place, most of the time being consumed in an examination of the tide pools near Naha and Itoman, The market, open for an hour or two each evening, was regularly visited and an attempt made to procure specimens of each species that appeared there. The excellent results obtained from our short stay at Naha were made possible through the kindly interest of Baron Shigeru Narahara, governor of the Province, the chief and other officers of the police force of Naha, the town officials of Itoman, and the teachers of the fisheries school at the same place. Okinawa, the largest of the Riu Kiu or Luchu Islands, lies about halfway between KJiu Siu and Formosa, directly in the path of the Kuro Shiwo, the great warm current that passes northward along the eastern shores of Japan. Its climate is hot and humid. Tlie island appears to be a coral formation, no volcanic or sedimentary rocks appearing on the surface. Near the harbor of Naha the coast is fringed with growing coral reefs, and the rocks near shore are conglomerates of disintegrated corals. The outlying reefs, the gently sloping beaches, seamed and carved by the tides, and the intervening region of broken corals and beds of sand and mud offer retreats for vast numbers of fishes and other marine forms.* • Interesting in this connection is the rather naive account of Bayard Taylor in the narrative of the expedition to Japan under the command of Commodore Perry. In his description of the port of Naha Taylor says: "Here the Httle pools which seamed the surface were alive with crabs, enails, starfish, sea-Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 42— No. 1913. 487
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