330 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY 



Stebeolepis gigas, Ayres. 



Hab. California. 



If the Olifforus gigas of Gunther, or Centropristis gigas of Owen truly belongs 

 to this genus, the name of the Californian species must be replaced by 

 another: that of S. Californicus will be appropriate. 



Description of the Genus OXYJDLIS Gill. 

 BY THEODORE GILL. 



In the present article, there is given a detailed description of the genns 

 Oxyjulis recently named, not hitherto described. 



As the Semicossyphus pulcher (Gunther ex Ayres) is only known through the 

 description of Ayres, made at a time when the classification of the Labroids 

 was far less exact that now, its generic position remains to be confirmed, al- 

 though there is little doubt that it really is a Semicossyphus. 



Genus SEMICOSSYPHUS Gunther. 

 Synonymy. 

 Semicossyphus Gunther, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. iii. 

 vol. viii. p. 384; ib. in Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum, 

 vol. iv. p. 99, 1861-2. Bleeker, Proc. Zoological Society of London, 1861. 

 p. 415. 



Semicossyphus pulcher Gunther. 

 Synonymy. 

 Labrus pulcher Ayres. Proc. California Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. i. p. 

 3, 1854. Ayres, Proc. Boston Society of Natural History, vol. v. p. 101. 

 1854. r i 



Semicossyphus pulcher Gunther, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser 

 iii. vol. viii. p. 384, 1861. Gunther, Catalogue of the Fishes in the 

 British Museum, vol. iv. p. 99, 1862. 

 Hab. Coast of California, at San Diego, (Ayres). 



Genus OXYJULIS Gill. 



Synonymy. 



= Oxyjulis Gill, Proc. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1863. 

 p. 223. ' 



Julis sp., Girard, Gill. 



Halichceres sp., Gunther. 



Pseudojulis pp., Gunther. 



Body elongated and slender, much compresssed and with the sides nearly 

 flat, with the caudal peduncle oblong and not constricted ; anus little in ad- 

 vance of the middle of the length. 



Scales moderate, less than thirty along lateral line, small and closely ap- 

 pressed on the breast ; each one is oblong, pentagonal, corrugated at the cen- 

 tre, with numerous lines radiating towards the back and posterior sides, and 

 with fainter ones extending forwards; exposed surface rhomboid. Lateral 

 line continuous, simply tubular, mostly concurrent with and near the back, 

 but deflected on the scales under the posterior portion of dorsal, and thence 

 continued on the tail along the middle to the caudal fin. 



Head oblong, conic, and acute in front, slightly curved above and be- 

 low, much compressed and gradually decreasing in width to the snout, trans- 

 versely convex above. Snout longer than the eye. Eyes mostly or wholly in 

 the anterior half of the head. Cheeks and opercula naked and unarmed ; sub- 

 operculum with an oblong membranous extension. Nostrils simple, in front of 

 upper angle of eye. 



[Not. 



