BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 313 



length of tlie head. Distance from vent to second anal spine consider- 

 ably less than length of second anal spine. Caudal rounded, the middle 

 rays produced, its length a little less than that of head. 



Pectorals broad, reaching about to vent, about equal to length of 

 head. Ventrals not reaching nearly to vent. 



Soft dorsal, anal, and caudal fins thickly scaled to their tips; the 

 spinous dorsal with a thick scaly sheath at base, each spine with a 

 series of scales; other fins more or less scaly. 



Scales large ; lateral line with a wide low curve anteriorly, becoming 

 straight in front of origin of anal ; tubes of lateral line branched an- 

 teriorly. 



Head 3| in length; depth 3. Dorsal rays XI, I, 22; Anal II, 8; 

 scales G-53-9 (rows) ; 47 pores. 



Coloration dusky above, pale below, with some silvery luster ; middle 

 of sides conspicuously punctulate; upper fins all brownish, punctulate 

 with darker; ventrals, anal, and jiectoral pale; the anal and pectoral 

 dusted with dark points. Opercle blackish within; peritoneum dusky- 

 silvery. The coloration of S.filrthi is very similar, but paler, the lower 

 fins quite pale ; peritoneum pale. 



Four specimens, the largest 8 inches in length, were obtained at 

 Panama. The characteristic physiognomy of the group called Stelli- 

 ferus reaches in this species an extreme. 



One specimen of 8. furthi (Steind.) was obtained at Panama. This 

 species differs in the much smaller and more nearly horizontal mouth, 

 which is overpassed by the snout ; the lower preopercular spine is di- 

 rected downward and forwarrl, and there is no knob at the S3'mi)hysis. 

 The teeth of the lower jaw in S. fiirthi form a narrow villiform band, 

 nearly as in 8. ophioscion and 8. chrysoleiica, while in 8. oscitans the denti- 

 tion is essentially as in Bairdiella. 



7. Sciaena ensifera, sp. nov. (29316, 29442, 29464, 29506, 29526. ) 



(Subgenus Bairdiella Gill ; allied, to Sciwna icistia J. & G. ) 



Body compressed, moderately elongate, the back little elevated ; snout 

 short, bluntish, not protruding, the profile nearly straight and not very 

 steep to base of first dorsal, along the base of which it is nearly hori- 

 zontal, thence again declining along base of soft dorsal ; ventral outline 

 nearly straight to front of anal, then very sharply angulated, the base 

 of the anal very oblique; caudal peduncle long and slender. Profile 

 depressed above head. Head moderate, compressed with vertical 

 cheeks; preorbital very narrow, narrower than pupil; snout not pro- 

 jecting so far as premaxillaries ; premaxillaries in front on the level of 

 lower part of pupil ; maxillary extending to opposite middle of pupil. 

 Mouth very oblique, the jaws nearly even in front, the lower very 

 slightly included, the gape 2^ in head. Teeth slender, small, in about 

 2 series in each jaw, the outer series in the upper jaw enlarged ; sym- 

 physis of lower jaw with a slight inwardly projecting knob, bearing 



