1941 CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 213 



distinguish this species from the other. When it once appears, a narrow dark 

 border at the posterior margin of the caudal fin marks it also. 



Sparisoma elongation is known from the type only, a specimen 230 mm. long, 

 obtained in the market at Panama City. Meek and Hildebrand, who described 

 it (see citation above), were alive to the possibility that it might have been 

 shipped across the isthmus, but from their knowledge of movements of fish in 

 the ordinary course of trade they considered that unlikely. The type specimen 

 seems to have suffered from its treatment. In form, however, it is very like 

 5. chrysopterum. It has no protruding lateral canines, which is not surprising, for 

 these teeth appear first roughly only at the size it has attained. I note, neverthe- 

 less, a pit from which such a tooth should shortly have grown. The rather small, 

 sharply defined dark spot at base of upper pectoral rays is like that in S. chrysop- 

 terum, and the lunate caudal fin, with light center and dark margin above and 

 below, is bordered behind by a very definite thin, dark line, such as chrysopterum 

 has. I am compelled, therefore, to believe that this is a transported specimen of 

 S. chrysopterum, and that both genus and species are confined to the Atlantic. 



This is among the less common of the parrot fishes at Tortugas, though 

 scarcely rare. Specimens were found near coral heads, near water deeper than 

 that over the reefs in general. It was taken also at 10 fathoms. 



It is highly changeable in coloration. While swimming it is usually bluish, 

 with dorsal fin and central caudal rosy, and the black spot on pectoral base show- 

 ing conspicuously on the plain ground; white spots may not be quite obsolete. 

 Resting, as in an aquarium tank, it shows a mottled pattern, largely in browns. 



W. H. L. 



Dr. Longley has pointed out that preserved specimens sometimes are hard to 

 distinguish from S. flai/escens before the canine teeth are developed. I have found 

 no specimens in the collection, which all reached me without labels, that I can 

 positively identify as S. chrysopterum, as none has canine teeth, including the 

 largest one, 285 mm. long. On the other hand, the type of S. lorito, a species re- 

 ferred to the synonymy of S. chrysopterum by Dr. Longley, which is only 238 

 mm. long, has 1 canine on one side and 3 on the other. Therefore, if the Tortugas 

 specimens are of the same species it must be assumed that canines are developed 

 at a much smaller size in some individuals than in others. 



I have compared the Tortugas specimens also with a specimen from Colon, 

 Panama, identified as S. squalidum by Meek and Hildebrand, to which Dr. 

 Longley has made reference in his discussion of S. pachycephalum (see p. 215). 

 Although Dr. Longley did not say specifically that he considered this specimen 

 the true S. fiavescens, he did imply it, and he indicated in his copy of Jordan, 

 Evermann, and Clark's Cheeky list that he considered S. squalidum a synonym 

 of S. flai/escens. He did not, however, list this species from Tortugas in his manu- 

 script. I am unable to detect any differences between the Colon specimen and 

 these Tortugas fish. Neither am I able to find any differences between the latter 

 and a specimen 340 mm. long in Poey's collection in the U. S. National Museum, 

 identified as S. squalidum presumably by Poey himself. 



