FISHES OF NEW YOKE 547 



inaxilla than elsewhere on the head; lateral line ascending over 

 the pectoral, then nearly following the outline of the back to 

 the caudal peduncle, where it becomes median. 



D. X, 11; A. Ill, 9; scales 10-45-23. 



Color in life bright red or crimson; the fins, except the pec- 

 torals, with black tips; the eye glowing like molten gold. 



The species is found in rather deep water in the West Indies 

 and from the Caribbean to Charleston, the young often follow- 

 ing the Gulf Stream northward in summer to Cape Cod. The 

 largest individual recorded is 11 inches long. Most of the speci- 

 mens taken near Cape Cod are small. The northern limit of the 

 fish appears to be Marblehead Mass., where an example was 

 taken Sep. 3, 1859. 



The type of the species was collected in Narragansett bay. 

 Individuals were obtained at Woods Hole Mass., Sep. 29, 1875, 

 Sep. 26, 1877 and Nov. 28, 1885. On Nov. 1, 1890, a specimen 

 was found in the Acushnet river, at New Bedford. In 1899 over 

 100 specimens were taken at Woods Hole, and in 1900 only nine 

 were observed between August 15 and September 8. The writer 

 obtained the species in moderate numbers in the Gulf of 

 Mexico in 1886. The colors of large individuals appear to be 

 less brilliant than in the young, but the fish is always strikingly 



handsome. 



Family LUTIANIDAE 



Snappers 



Genus NEOMAEJJIS Girard 



Body oblong, compressed, the back somewhat elevated; head 

 long, naked above, except for a broad oblique band of scales at 

 the nape; nostrils normally close together, neither with a tube; 

 mouth large, the jaws with bands of villiforrn teeth, besides 

 which there is usually an outer series of larger teeth in each 

 jaw, and two to four stronger teeth or canines in front of upper 

 jaw; vomer with villiform teeth; villiform teeth on the pala- 

 tines; usually one or more patches of teeth on the tongue in 

 the adult; no molar teeth; no teeth on pterygoids; preopercle 

 without notch or with a shallow emargination; posterior liinb 



