162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



than one half are reported as colored, either in one or in both the companions. 

 A catalogue of 36 stars are reported in the forthcoming number of the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science and Art, for July, by Maria Mitchkll, and selected for 

 the measurements of distances and angles of position ; 30 of these are colored 

 in both the companions, 5 were observed in weather unfavorable for obser- 

 vations of color, and of the remaining one nothing is said. There is a rich 

 mine of information in observations on the colors and on the changes of colors 

 in the stars. 



Descriptive Enumeration of a collection of FISHES from the Western Coast 

 of Central America, Presented to the Smithsonian Institution, by Capt. 

 John M. Dow. 



BY THEODORE GILL. 



Captain John M. Dow having recently forwarded a small collection of Fishes 

 and other animals to the Smithsonian Institution, attention was arrested by 

 the interesting nature of some of the species, and it has been deemed advis- 

 able to publish descriptions of them as well as all the other new species. 

 Only five had been previously described; twenty-two of them are new and 

 several represent new generic types. Many of the species are closely related 

 to West Indian species. 



Family GERROIDJE Bleeker. 

 Genus DIAPTERUS Ranz., Gill. 

 Eucinostomus Baird and Girard. 



Diapteeus Down Gill. 



The greatest height is contained 3J times in the extreme length ; the head 

 A\ times ; the diameter of the eye 2| in the head ; the snout equals 4-5ths of 

 the eye. The profile is rectilinear and the interorbital space nearly flat, but con- 

 vex above the eyes, and nearly as wide as the eye. The maxillary groove is 

 linear and extends backwards to a vertical midways between the front of the 

 orbit and pupil, while the scales on each side extends to the vertical from the 

 front of the orbits. The exposed surface of the supramaxillary bones is at first 

 triangular and thence oblong, the whole 2 J times as long as wide. 



The height of the constricted portion of the caudal peduncle equals two- 

 thirds of its length and the diameter of the eye. The lateral line is scarcely 

 bent behind. The second and third dorsal spines are slender, and nearly equal 

 half the height of the body beneath ; the last is little more than half as long as 

 the first branched ray. The third anal spine is as long as the snout and 

 longer, but more slender, than the second. 



D. IX. 10. A. III. 7. C. 4. I. 8. 7. I. 3. P. 1. 14. 

 5 



Scales 47 

 10 



The color is silvery; the spinous dorsal blackish at margin; the axilla of 

 pectoral blackish. 



Three specimens were obtained along the coast. I dedicate the species to 

 the excellent collector, Capt. Dow. 



Family CHJETODONTOID^J (Cuv.) 

 Genus POMACANTHODES Gill. 

 Pomacanthodes zoNiPECTUs Gill. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pa., 1862, p. 244. 

 A single specimen in the collection, between three and four inches long, ex- 



[June, 



