In 1853 BLEEKER (I, p. 489 and 490) described two species, both from the bay of Batavia, as Julis (Halichoeres) cyanopleura and Julis (Halichoeres) pyrrhogrammatoides. He pointed out that these two species are closely related, the first to Julis poecilopterus SCHL., the second to Julis pyrrhogramma SCHL., both from Japan. Lastnamed species differ from the javanese species, besides by slightly different colourmarkings, by having 14 rays in the dorsal and the anal, against 11 rays in both fins of the javanese species. BLEEKER says that but for the difference in the number of dorsal and anal rays, which is considerable, at least for this genus, he would be temped to consider the javanese species as climatic variations (“klimaatvarieteiten”) of the japanese ones. He also draws attention to the great resemblance of these four species inter se, as they are all characterised by having 4 canines anteriorly in each jaw, and the outer pair in the upper jaw greatly curved backwards. When at a later date (2, p. 100) he found that the pharyngealia inferiora of H. cyanopleura and H. pyrrhogrammatoides differ from those of the other members of the genus Halichoeres by being concave posteriorly, he created a new genus Leptojulis with L. cyanopleura as the type. It is curious that in the discussion of this new genus in the Atlas Ichthyologique (3, p. 128) BLEEKER says: “Je ne connais du genre Leptojulis que les deux espèces de mon cabinet, qui toutes les deux habitent la mer de Batavia”, and that no mention is made of the two japanese species, which formerly he considered to be so very closely related to them. We can guess why he did so, for some years later (4, p. 251) he gave an elaborate description of Julis poecilopterus and pyrrhogramma. The inferior pharyngeals are described as being not concave behind and agreeing in all respects with those of other species of Halichoeres, in which genus he now places the two species. Again, no mention is made of his species of Leptojulis, but the japanese species are now compared with Halichoeres bicolor and hyrtli, which have the same disposition of bands on the body, but differ in the number of canines and in the number of dorsal and anal rays.