552 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



rays two thirds as long as the outer. Pectoral midway between 

 snout and origin of anal, its length twice that of the maxillary. 

 Ventral as long as snout and eye combined, slightly more than 

 one half as long as head; it extends to below the eighth spine 

 of the dorsal. B. VII; U. X, 14; A. Ill, 9; V. I, 5; P. I, 16; 

 scales 8 to 9-50-15 to 16; gill rakers on lower arch, 8. 



The scales extend half the length of the anal rays on the mem- 

 brane; on the external caudal rays they extend nearly to the 

 tip, and with slight traces upon the spinous dorsal in front of 

 the spines; and in the soft dorsal somewhat more extended. 



Color uniform scarlet. Center of scales lighter, also the 

 belly, which is silvery; inside of axil of pectoral darker maroon. 

 On Oct. 26, 1887, Mr E. G. Blackford, Fish Commissioner of 

 the State of New York, forwarded to the National Museum a 

 young red snapper, four and one half inches long, which was 

 caught in Great South bay, at Bay Shore, Long Island. This is 

 the smallest red snapper that we have obtained, and it is the 

 first record of the occurrence of the species so far north. The 

 specimen has been catalogued as 39213 of the Museum Fish 

 Register. 



As in other young fishes the size of the eye, the length of the 

 head and the colors are different from these characters in the 

 adult. 



A description of the colors of the fresh fish follows: 

 A dark band nearly as wide as the diameter of the eye is 

 placed immediately in front of the spinous dorsal; it fades out 

 about the median line of the body. Three similar bands, and 

 of like size, under the dorsal, separated by narrow interspaces 

 and fading out below. The fourth band contains a blotch as 

 large as the eye, which passes slightly beneath the lateral line. 

 A fifth band is under the last third of the soft dorsal and con- 

 tinues backward to the caudal, not descending below the lateral 

 line. The second and third bands are traversed vertically by a 

 narrow median stripe of the rosy body color. Membrane of 

 dorsals and caudal with a narrow black edge. Spine and ex- 

 ternal ray of ventral milk white. Anal rosy, except membrane 

 of first two spines and last three rays, which is milk white. 



