376 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



183. I1E.1HRIIA1IPIIUS Cuvier. 



Half-beetles. 



(Cnvii r, Kr^ne Aniin. ii, 1817: type Hemirhamphus commersoni CuvitT. ) 



Body elongate, compressed, the dorsal outline parallel with that 

 of the belly. Upper jaw short; lower jaw prolonged into a slender 

 beak, bordered with membrane; preuiaxillaries forming a triangular 

 plate, the teeth of which fit against the toothed portion of the man- 

 dible; maxillaries joined to premaxillaries. Teeth feeble, sometimes 

 tricuspid. Gill-rakers rather long. Head covered above with large, 

 shield-like scales. Scales large, deciduous. No finlets; caudal fin 

 more or less forked, the lower lobe the longer; dorsal and anal similar, 

 not modified in the males. Oviparous. Air-bladder large. No pyloric 

 coeca. Young with the lower jaw short. Species numerous, in all warm 

 seas, going in large schools. Size comparatively small, (i;//:, half; 

 (jfi/juj'dZ) beak.) 



a. Pectoral Jius short ; vent rals moderate. (Hemirhamphus.') 



6O3. II. iliiifusciatUS Raiizani. 



Greenish, sides with a well-defined silvery band, narrower than the 

 eye, about as broad as a scale. Tip of lower ja\v red. Lower jaw (from 

 end of upper jaw) 4i-5 in total length from its tipsto base of caudal. 

 Head (without mandible) 4 in length from, tip of upper jaw. Pre- 

 maxillaries broader than long. Eye about equal to iuterorbital space, 

 3 postorbital part of head. Yentrals nearly midway between eye and 

 base of caudal. Dorsal and anal scaly. Caudal moderately forked, the 

 middle rays being longer than the eye. Hack not compressed. Head 

 (with lower jaw) ^~:\: depth 7A. 1). 14; A. 15; Lat, 1. ,>!. L. 12 

 indies, rape Cod to Panama and Indian Ocean; common on our 

 South Atlantic coast. 



(Run/.uni. Nov. ('..nun. Aca.l. Sri. lust. I5oiK.ii. l-l'.'. v. :WO, tab. 25; Gilntlier, vi, 

 li(l-J: Ilrinirliuiiiiilitir rii-hardi (Juv. ct Val. xix, ~V>.) 





 <JOI. II. rossr .lonlim A (.ill., r i. 



Green, with a silvery lateral band, rather broader than a scale. A 

 triple vertebral streak. Lower jaw dark reddish brown. Lower jaw 

 (from tip of upper) I.I in length from its tip to base of caudal. Head 

 without mandible.'!'! in length from 1 ip of upper jaw. Premaxillaries 

 about as broad as long. I've less than interorbital space, about half 

 poMorbital part of head. Yentrals rather nearer tip of caudal than 

 eye, midway between base of caudal and gill-opening. Dorsal and anal 



