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Show 1897.] MR. G. A. BOULENGER ON A GIGANTIC SEA-PERCH. 917 2. On a Gigantic Sea-Perch, Stereolepis gig as. By Or. A. B O U L E N G E R , F.B.S. [Eeceived September 30, 1897.] (Blate IU.) Since the publication of the first volume of the new Catalogue of Bishes, the Trustees of the British Museum have acquired, through the kind mediation of Brof. C. H. Gilbert, two specimens of the little-known Stereolepis glgas, Ayres, from the coast of California. I am thus enabled to supplement our knowledge of this fish, especially with regard to the skeleton, of which nothing was known beyond the statement, by Hilgendorf, that Japanese specimens (Megaperca Ischlnagl, Hilg.) have 124-14 vertebrae. The conclusion arrived at from a comparison of the descriptions, that Megaperca Ischlnagl is specifically identical with Stereolepis glgas, is confirmed by the study I have made of these specimens and their comparison with a photograph of the type of the former species, preserved in the Berlin Museum, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Brof. Hilgendorf. I must particularly insist on this point, since my identification has not been accepted by Jordan and Evermann, who in their ' Bishes of America' published 1896, agree with me only in so far as the generic identity goes, remarking that "Mr. Boulenger is probably in error in placing this Japanese species \Megaperca Ischlnagl^ in the synonymy of Stereolepis glgas." These authors, however, do not seem to have examined many Californian specimens, nor to be aware of the range of their variations, since they ascribe to them " ventrals long, reaching vent," whereas the large specimen before me has these fins rather short and widely separated from the vent, just as in the Japanese specimen in the Berlin Museum. I will first proceed with a short description of the external characters from the larger Californian specimen, 1*4 metres long, and add a few notes taken from the photograph of the nearly equally large (over one metre) Japanese specimen. The account of the skeleton which follows is drawn up from a specimen 9 decim. long, with the vertebral column somewhat malformed in its caudal portion. Depth of body nearly equal to length of head, 3^ times in total length. Crown flat; snout convex, 2\ diameter of eye, which is 7 times in length of head and 2| in interorbital width; lower jaw projecting ; maxillary extending to below centre of eye, the width of its distal extremity nearly equalling diameter of eye. Greater part of head scaly; maxillary naked ; praeopercle finely serrated; no opercular spines, they becoming worn and blunt with increasing age. Gill-rakers strong, longest as long as gill-fringes, 8 on lower part of anterior arch. Dorsal X I 9; originating immediately behind vertical of axilla; spinous and soft portions confluent but deeply notched, the former twice as long and only half as deep as the latter; 5th-7th spines subequal, longest, \ length of head. Bectoral asymmetrical, rounded, with |