GARMAN: SOME FISHES FROM AUSTRALASIA. 231 



twenty-three in a longitudinal and about nine in a transverse series ; two rows 

 above the lateral line. 



Color whitish (in life reddish or yellowish), dark on the crown and along 

 the back, with puncticulations of dark along the middle of the side in the 

 hinder half of the caudal region and on the outer extremity of the caudal fin; 

 fins light. 



From Suva Reef, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. 



Scorpaena erinacea, sp. nov. 



Plate 1, Fig. 3. 



Br. r. 7 ; D. 13 + 9 ; A. 3 + 6 ; V. 6 ; P. 19 ; LI. 43. 



Body stout, depth equal length of head or two-sevenths of the total length, 

 back subregularly and strongly curved from snout to end of dorsal fin. 

 Cephalic ridges and spines strong and sharp ; no depressed space on the crown ; 

 top of head covered by scales ; orbital ridges high ; interorbital space narrow, 

 deep. Snout shorter than the eye, less than one-fourth of the head, blunt. 

 Eye large, little less than one-third of the head. Mouth large; maxillary 

 reaching to a vertical from the hind border of the orbit, hind margin strongly 

 curved; lower jaw little longer. Anterior nostril tubular, inner edge with a 

 broadened flap bearing numerous filaments. Prominent filaments appear at 

 and behind the spines of the head and the dorsal fin. Scales of the lateral 

 line with a ridge and a filament. Scales ctenoid, large on the body, smaller 

 on the top and sides of the head. Pectorals about as long as the head, rays 

 scaly on the basal half. Posterior edge of caudal very convex. 



Color brown (reddish in life), mottled and blotched with darker; a dark 

 blotch on the operculum ; a transverse band, more or less completely divided 

 into two, at the bases of the caudal rays; a similar band across the flank from 

 soft dorsal to anal ; a series of four to six spots at each side of the dorsum ex- 

 tends on the dorsal fin ; caudal, anal, and dorsal with irregular narrow transverse 

 bands or transverse series of spots or blotches of brown ; pectorals and ventrals 

 with numerous small spots of brown, basal portions dark ; breast and belly 

 spotted ; flanks with numerous more or less indistinct and irregular spots and 

 blotches. The spots on the fins are separated by areas of lighter ground color. 

 There are less distinct indications of bands below and behind the eye and 

 behind the operculum ; these may be described as a narrow darker band from 

 the interorbital space through the eye to the branch! ostegal rays, another 

 parallel with it at the hind edge of the orbit and a third passing in front of 

 the dorsal to the base of the pectoral. There are several indistinct spots along 

 the lower edge of the gill cover and some small spots of white on the lateral 

 line. 



Suva Reef, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. 



