116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Latris hecateia Ricli. 



Latris hecateia Rich., Proc. Zoological Society of London 1839, p. 98 ; 



Trans. Zool. Soc, vol. iii. p. 106, pi. 6, fig. 1. 

 Cheilodactylus hecateius Rich , Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 6T. 

 Habitat. Van Diemen's Land. 



Mendosoma Gay. 



Synonymy. 



Mendosoma Gay, Historia Fisica y Politica de Chili, Zoologia. torao ii., p. 212, 



1848. 

 Mendosoma Gilnther, Catalogao of the Acanthopterygian Fishes, Ac, vol. ii., 

 p. 83. 

 Denies maxilla superiori solum. 



Body fusiform, highest above or behind the ventral fins, with a slender 

 caudal peduncle. Scales of moderate size. Head rather small, much com- 

 pressed, acutely conical in profile, slightly depressed above the eyes. Eyes 

 large ; pupil intersected by the rostro-opercular line. Scales covering the 

 head on the sides and above. Preoperculum angulated, with posterior mar- 

 gin vertical. Mouth moderate ; jaws subequal. Teeth small and pluriserial, 

 present only on the upper jaw. Branchiostegal rays six. Dorsal unequally 

 divided, the spinous being longer than the soft, convex and highest in front 

 of the middle, and sustained by about twenty-two spines ; soft portion much 

 higher than the last spines. Anal fin oblong, and little shorter than the soft 

 dorsal, with its three spines moderate and the eighteen rays gradually decreas- 

 ing. Pectoral fins rounded and with ncne of the rays produced. 



Type. Mendosoma lineatum Gay. 



Mendosoma is the only known representative of the Cirrhitoids in which the 

 teeth are confined to the upper jaw. The physiognomy is somewhat similar 

 to that of Chirodactylus or Goniisthis, but from both of them it differs espe- 

 cially by the length and nearly uniform height of the anal fin and the less 

 produced simple rays of the pectoral fins. 



Three forms have been described as so many species, but the only clear 

 characters are those relating to the colors. Whether the difference of colora- 

 tion is not only one of degree and has not been exaggerated remains to be 

 discovered. The diagnostic phrases below inserted are extracted from Gay's 

 work. 



Mendosoma lineatum (Gay.) 



Mendosoma lineata Gay, Historia Fisica y Politica de Chile, Zoologia, 

 tomo ii., p. 212, lam. 5, fig. 2. 

 M. corpore oblongo ; dorso et lateribus viresceutibus, lineis fnscis longi- 

 tudinalibus ; ventre pallide albo ; pinnis fuscis, caudali solum nigro-maculatis 

 emarginata. 



D. XXII. I. 24. A. III. 18. 

 Habitat. Coast of Chili. 



Mendosoma CjEkulescens Gay. 



Mendosoma cserulescens Gay, op. cit., p. 215. 

 M. corpore elongato ; supra casruleo, infra cinero, ita pinnis omnibus. 

 Habitat. Coast of Chili. 



Mendosoma fernandezianum (Gay.) 



Mendosoma fernandezianus Gay, op. cit., p. 216. 

 M. corpore subovata, supra subgriseo, infra argentata ; pinnis omnibus 

 nigrescentibus ; lateribus lineis fuscis distinctis, 

 Habitat. Coast of the Island of Juan Fernandez. 



[March, 



