208 PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY vol. xxxiv 



washed with yellow. Sixteen white spots appear on the side, each covering a 

 single scale, and a creamy band crosses base of caudal. This spotted phase is 

 commonly displayed when the fish is among corals and gorgonians or over 

 bottom covered with brown algae. In a lighter phase the yellow and red are 

 suppressed, but the spots remain. There are also unspotted phases, dark and 

 light, in the first of which in particular the margins of the scales are darker; and 

 finally there is a blotched phase. 



These fish nip algae from dead coral, and on gravel bottom take bits of the' 

 weedy "stone" in their mouths and mumble it over. One may see them drop 

 many of these, though some of the smaller ones are perhaps milled by the 

 pharyngeal teeth. 



The projecting posterior canines in this species from a comparatively small 

 size are normally i pair, but a specimen 165 mm. in length in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology has 2 scars on each side before its standing canines. 



W. H. L. 



Dr. Longley has said nothing about the relative abundance of this species in his 

 probably incomplete account. It may be assumed, however, that it is common, as 

 at least twenty different observations are mentioned in his notes. 



Atlantic coast of tropical America, northward to Florida. S. F. H. 



Sparisoma distinctum (Poey) 



Scarus distinctus Poey, Memorias, vol. 2, 1861, p. 423 — Havana. 



Scams jrondosus Giinther (not of Cuvier), Cat. fish. Brit. Mus., vol. 4, 1862, p. 210. 



Scarus erythryinoides Guichenot, Mem. Soc. sci. nat. Cherbourg, vol. n, 1865, p. 10 — 



Santo Domingo. 

 Scarus oxybrachius Poey, Repertorio, vol. 2, 1868, p. 342 — Havana. 

 Sparisoma emarginatum Metzelaar (not of Poey), Bijdr. Dierk. Amsterdam, vol. 22, 1922, 



p. 138 — Curacao. 



Scarus jrondosus Giinther, being checked, proves to be Sparisoma distinctum. 

 Guichenot's type of Scarus erythryinoides is the same, rather than abildgaardi, 

 for which it has passed. The type of Scarus oxybrachius, in the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, is distinctum. 



Poey sent to the Museum of Comparative Zoology 5 specimens of S. abild- 

 gaardi, correctly named. He sent also 9 specimens of S. distinctum, 4 of which at 

 least were so labeled. Another came under the manuscript name Scarus jestivus, 

 which he did not later take up. Poey's statement that Scarus oxybrachius and 

 S. distinctus closely resembled each other (and not Sparisoma abildgaardi) sug- 

 gests the identity of these species. In proportional measurements S. abildgaardi 

 at 210 mm., the length of the type of oxybrachius, does not match that species as 

 closely as S. distinctum of 220 mm., the discrepancy appearing particularly in the 

 proportion of eye to head, to snout, and to distance from eye to angle of mouth, 

 all reflecting the eye's smaller size in abildgaardi. The lateral canines of S. abild- 

 gaardi at 210 mm. are stronger than those of distinctum at 220 mm., so the close 

 relation between the latter and oxybrachius is supported by direct comparison of 



