106. SCORPyENID.E SEBASTODES. 677 



blackish olive; cranial ridges black. Body robust, compressed behind. 

 Head compressed. Month large, the maxillary reaching to opposite 

 middle of eye. its length 2^ in head: jaws equal. Cranial ridges thick, 

 short, high and strong, covered with lax, thick skin, placed nearly in 

 a right line on each side; preocular, supraoeular, tympanic, occipital, 

 and nuchal spines usually present, the latter sometimes eoalescent with 

 the occipital; interorbital space narrow, fiat, closely scaled; preorbital 

 rather broad; preopercular spines sharp; jaws naked; membranes oi ? 

 spinous dorsal thick, covered with small scales. Eye small, 5 in head. 

 Gill-rakers short, stiff and clavate. Dorsal spines strong, rather low, 

 scarcely exserted, lower than the soft rays, the longest 2- in head; 

 second anal spines 2 in head, stronger than third, scarcely longer; 

 pectorals broad and rounded, the lower rays thickened, the tips reach- 

 ing vent; ventrals reaching beyond vent; caudal rounded. Peritoneum 

 pale. HeadS ; depth 2i ; pectoral 3i. D. XIII-13; A. Ill, 5; Lat. 1. 

 50. L. 12 inches. San Francisco to Cerros Island, abundant south- 

 ward; one of the most singularly marked of the rock-fishes. 



(Sebastichtliijs serriccps Jordan &, Gilbert,, Proe. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, ;58.) 



1O34. S. iidgrocinctus (Ayres) ,T. & G. 



Bright orange-red, with 5 jet-black vertical bars, overlaid with red ; 

 these bars comparatively narrow, none of them wider than eye; one 

 at beginning of dorsal, extending downward on opercle and scapular 

 region; a second, broader one, under middle of spinous dorsal; a third 

 under posterior part of spinous dorsal; the fourth narrower, under front 

 of soft dorsal; the fifth under middle of soft dorsal, all of these extend- 

 ing on the dorsal fin; two oblique black bands from eye, downwards 

 and backwards across cheeks; another upwards and backwards towards 

 the nape; fins uniform deep orange, anal and ventrals tipped with black- 

 ish; mouth red. Body short, deep, and compressed, deeper than in any 

 of the other species; back arched. Head large, compressed. Mouth 

 very large; maxillary extending to oeyoud pupil, 2 in head; lower jaw 

 very slightly projecting, the symphysis not produced; premaxillary 

 scarcely below eye. Eye. large,' 4-|- in head. Cranial ridges higher than 

 in any other species, their spines blunt, the ridges arranged in two 

 nearly parallel series as in S. serriceps, the surface of the larger ones 

 roughened by accessory spinous tubercles as in S. ruber; occipital 

 ridges very high; skin covering cranial ridges thin or obsolete, not lax; 

 interorbital space sparsely scaled, very narrow, its breadth a little more 

 than half diameter of eye, with very strong frontal ridges, which are not 

 covered by the scales; jaws naked; preorbital broad, a low ridge extend- 



