396 Chromides and Pharyngognathi 



flesh (when eaten raw) made it the most highly valued fish 

 at the royal banquets of old Hawaii. It still sells readily at a 

 dollar or more per pound. To this type belong also the blue 

 parrot-fish, Pseudoscarus ovifrons, of Japan. In the restricted 

 genus Scarus proper the teeth are pale. The great blue parrot- 

 fish, of the West Indies, Scarus caruleus, belongs to this 

 group. This species, deep blue in color, reaches a large size, 

 and the adult has a large fleshy hump on the forehead. 

 Lesser parrot-fish with pale teeth and with showy coloration 

 are the West Indian species Scarus t&niopterus, Scarus vetula, 

 Scarus croicensis, etc. 



Very many species of both Scarus and Pseudoscarus, green, 

 blue, red-brown, or variegated, abound about the coral reefs 

 of Polynesia. About twenty -five species occur in Samoa. 



FIG. 334. Slippery-dick or Doncella, Halichceres bivittatus (Bloch), a fish of the 

 coral reefs, Key West. Family Labridce. 



Pseudoscarus latax and P. ultramarinus being large and 

 showy species, chiefly blue. Pseudoscarus prasiognathus is 

 deep red with the jaws bright blue. 



Fossil species referred to Scarus but belonging rather to Spari- 

 soma are found in the later Tertiary. The genera Phyllodus, 

 Egertonia, and Paraphyllodus of the Eocene perhaps form a 

 transition from Labrida to Scarida. In Paraphyllodus medius 

 the three median teeth of the lower pharyngeals are greatly 

 widened, extending across the surface of the bone. 



