GILBERT AND STAKES — FISHES OF PANAMA BAY 183 



The premaxillary teeth are all finely villiform, in a narrow band which tapers laterally to a point, and 

 is discontinued opposite the fourth or fifth of the palatine series. Opercle and subopercle each with 

 two strong diverging spines, the lower in each case shorter than the upper. 



The entire head, with the throat and breast and the pre-pectoral area are naked. The rest of 

 the body, including the entire belly, is covered with elongate imbricated cycloid scales, the margins of 

 which may be slightly crenate. As in other species of the genus, there are two lateral lines: the upper 

 begins on a level with the upper opercular spine, runs parallel with the back for a distance slightly 

 exceeding two-thirds the length of the trunk, to a point opposite the base of the eighteenth dorsal ray; 

 it is there discontinued, to reappear at the extreme base of the dorsal fin, along which it is evident 

 from the twentieth to the twenty-fifth ray; it is there again interrupted, reappearing at its former level, 

 where it is continued to a point opposite the end of the dorsal fin. The lower lateral line curves around 

 the lower base of the pectoral fin and up behind it, then runs nearly parallel with the base of the anal 

 to its interruption at a point opposite the twelfth anal ray; it is then continued along the base of the 

 anal to within a few rays of its end, when it reappears at its former level. Two short longitudinal 

 series of filaments divide the basal portion of the caudal fin into thirds, and seem to represent a pos- 

 terior continuation of the two lateral lines. 



There is a deep glandular pocket behind the upper portion of the pectoral fin. On the inner 

 face of each pectoral toward the base is a series of grooves, one in each interradial membrane; these 

 are continued proximally as canals which penetrate the base of the fin. 



The color is gray, very finely mottled with olive-brown. About seven dark bars cross the 

 back and sides. The belly and under side of the head are whitish. The ventrals are whitish, the 

 other fins colored like the body. 



This species seems to resemble the Atlantic B. surinamensis, with which it 

 has been identified by Dr. Giinther. No specimens of surinamensis are at hand for 

 comparison, but published descriptions indicate important differences between the 

 two forms. According to Cuvier and Valenciennes (Hist. Nat. Poiss., Vol. XII, 

 p. 488), B. sitrinamensis has a very small eye, the diameter of which is contained 

 eight or ten times in the interorbital space; the palatine teeth are in two rows, the 

 throat is scaly, and the two lateral lines disappear near the middle of the length of 

 the trunk. Meek and Hall (1885, p. 61) state that the vomerine teeth are small, 

 about fourteen in number, and the pectoral is without pores on its inner surface. All 

 of these features are essentially different in the species here described, as has appeared 

 in the above description. Authors are not agreed concerning the arrangement of 

 the palatine teeth in B. surinamensis. They are variously described as in two rows, 

 in one irregular row, or in a single series. We are also uncertain concerning the 

 anterior mandibular teeth; Cuvier states that those of the anterior series of the cardi- 

 form band are stronger than the others, while Giinther describes a villiform patch, 

 the outer teeth of which are not canine-like. 



Through the courtesy of Dr. C. H. Eigenmann, we are enabled to give the fol- 

 lowing notes on the specimen of B. surinamensis, on which Meek and Hall based 

 their account of the species. The specimen is 111 mm. long. It is numbered 2080 

 in the catalogue of the Indiana University Museum. 



The longitudinal diameter of the eye is one-third the interorbital width. The 

 palatine teeth are conic, irregular in size, in a single row. The vomerine teeth ai'e 

 14 in number, increasing in size outward. The mandibular teeth are in a single 

 series laterally, in a band in front, the anterior and the posterior series of the band 



