KEPORT ON THE JAPANESE MACROUROID FISHES COLLECTED BY THE UNITED STATES FISHERIES STEAMER "ALBATROSS" IN 1906, WITH A SYNOPSIS OF THE GENERA. By Charles Henry Gilbert and Carl L. Hubbs, Of Stanford University, California. INTRODUCTION. During the summer of 1906 the United States Fisheries Steamer Albatross made extensive explorations about the islands of Jap)an. After a few dredge hauls about the Kuril Islands the course was continued through the Tsugaru Strait and southward, in the Sea of Japan, along the west coast of Hondo to Tsuruga; and from there across the Sea of Japan to the east coast of Korea by way of the Oki Group; then southward, through the Eastern Channel of Korea Strait, to the Eastern Sea ; thence through Vincennes Strait to Kagoshima Gulf ; and northward, through Bungo Channel and the Inland Sea, to Yokohama. The Albatross then circumnavigated Hokkaido (Yezo), and, returning southward, dredged extensively in Suruga Gulf and Sagami Bay. The Macrouroid fishes obtained during this expedition are made the subject of the present report. Large numbers of these deep-sea fishes were dredged off the southern and southeastern coasts of Japan, chiefly in the Eastern Sea, Suruga Gulf, and Sagami Bay. They were found in the Okhotsk Sea and everywhere to the east-ward of the islands, but they were not to be discovered in the Sea of Japan nor the Gulf of Tartary, although numerous and successful hauls of the trawl were made at appropriate depths. SYNOPSIS OF THE GENERA. It has long been apparent to students of Macrouroid fishes that many of the current genera are incapable of exact definition, forming more or less unnatural groups. This statement is especially true of the genus Maa^ourus, with which widely different groups have been repeatedly identified. Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 51— No. 2149. 135
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