106. SCOKP^ENID^: - SEBASTODES. 673 



and another across the opercular spines 5 fins all pinkish red, the mem- 

 branes olive; vertical fins narrowly edged with dusky; top of head usu- 

 ally with alternating cross-shades of pinkish and yellowish; yellowish 

 shades sometimes replaced by light olive; other specimens are quite red; 

 still others brownish; the light areas on the back have a position sim- 

 ilar to that of the rosy spots in 8. constellates. Body stout and com- 

 pressed, the back elevated. Mouth rather large, the broad maxillary 

 extending behind the orbit, its length 2 in head; premaxillary on level 

 of lower edge of pupil; jaws subequal, the lower somewhat projecting, 

 but without symphyseal knob; the upper jaw emargiuate at tip. Cranial 

 ridges long and low, higher than in rastrelliger, the preocular, supraoc- 

 ular, occipital,and sometimes tympanic present; preocular spines con- 

 spicuous, extending well backward; occipital spines rather long, diverg- 

 ing backward ; interorbital space broad and flattish, narrower than eye, 

 occupied by two raised ridges, covered by the scales; preopercular 

 spines moderate, some of them usually divided into two, three, or four 

 at tip, the middle one the largest. Eye moderate, high up, 4-4i in head ; 

 preorbital very broad ; suborbital stay short. Jaws naked. Gill-rakers 

 rather long and strong, the longest slightly clavate, nearly half as long 

 as eye. Dorsal spines very strong and high, about as in chlorostictus, 

 nearly as high as in maliger, the highest more than half length of head, 

 and rather higher than the very high soft rays; membrane of spinous 

 dorsal rather deeply incised, but less so than in maliger; second anal 

 spine 3 in head, scarcely longer than the third, and not much stronger, 

 about two-thirds as high as the soft rays; caudal truncate; pectoral 

 shorter than head, not reaching the vent; its base rather broad, its 

 length 32 in body; ventrals not reaching vent. Peritoneum white. D. 

 XIII-16 ; A. Ill, 6 ; Lat. 1. 55. L. 18 inches. Coast of California, 

 abundant southward; apparently a geographical variety of 8. caurinus, 

 but quite different in color. 



(Scbastichtliys vexiUaris Jpr. & Gilb. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 292.) 



1O29. S. BMaBa^er Jor. & Gilb. 



Color warm yellowish brown, the anterior portion of the back and 

 sides usually clear yellow; breast yellow; anterior part of body and 

 head, especially in the adult, closely covered with small round spots of 

 a clear orange-brown color; posterior part of body darker than ante- 

 rior, variously mottled ; soft fins all slaty black, the pectorals and dorsal 

 paler at base and speckled ; brownish shades radiating from the eyes. 

 Body oblong, robust. Head large. Mouth moderate, the jaws nearly 

 Bull. Nat, Mus. No. 16 - 43 



