22 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Genus Pontinus, Poey 



1858, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 11, p. 172. Type Pontinus castor, Poey. 



Sebastoplus, Gill, 1863, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., p. 208. Type Scorpaena kuhli, Bowdich. 



Poey described two species of the genus Pontinus, P. castor and P. pollux, both 

 probably shallow-water forms from the West Indies. I have not examined specimens 

 of either species, and follow Goode and Bean in regarding them as congeneric with 

 Scorpaena kuhli, Bowdich, which is the type of Gill's genus Sebastoplus. The genus 

 does not occur in the Mediterranean, and there are only two species in the eastern 

 Atlantic, which may be distinguished as follows : 



I. 5 or 6 series of scales between last soft-ray of dorsal and lateral line, 9 to 11 on cheek 

 below suborbital ridge ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... kuhli. 



II. 3 series of scales between last soft-ray of dorsal and lateral line, 6 or 7 on cheek below 

 suborbital ridge accraensis. 



Sebastes nigropunctatus, Giinther, from St Helena, is a Pontinus, and may be dis- 

 tinguished from both the above by the form of the dorsal spines, none of which are 

 elongate, and by the coloration. Several species have been described from the western 

 Atlantic, but these are not represented in the British Museum collection.^ 



Pontinus kuhli (Bowdich). 



Scorpaena kuhlii, Bowdich, 1825, Excur. Madeira, p. 123. 



Sebastes kuhlii, Lowe, 1839, Trans. Zool. Soc, 11 (3), p. 176; Lowe, i860, Hist. Fish. Madeira, 



p. 1 15, pi. xvii; Gunther,i86o, Cat. Fish., n, p. 102; Steindachner, 1867, SitzBer. Akad. Wiss. 



Wien, LVi (i), p. 671; Capello, 1881, Mem. Acad. Sci. Lisboa, XLVi (N.S. vi, pt. i), p. 11; 



Vaillant, i888, Exped. Sci. ' Travailleur' et ' Talisman', Poiss., p. 370; Vinciguerra, 1893, Atti 



Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat. Milano, xxxiv, p. 312; Collett, 1896, Res. Camp. Sci. Monaco, x, p. 13. 

 Sebastes filifer, Valenciennes, 1843, in Webb and Berthelot, Canaries (Ichth.), p. 21, pi. ii, fig. 2.^ 

 Sebastoplus kuhlii, Gill, 1863, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., p. 208. 

 Sebastes {Sebastichthys) filifer, Sauvage, 1878, Nouv. Arch. Mus. H.N. Paris (2) i, p. 118. 

 Pontinus kuhlii, Goode and Bean, 1895, Ocean. Ichth., p. 253. 

 Pontinus filifer, Goode and Bean, 1895, t.c, p. 254. 



Depth of body about 3 in the length, length of head 2 J to 2|. Snout longer than eye, 

 diameter of which is ^\ to 5 in length of head and if to more than twice interorbital 

 width. Two strong, backwardly curved spines on the praeorbital; suborbital ridge with 

 3 or 4 spines ; 5 praeopercular spines, the uppermost strongest and with a smaller spine 

 at its base, the lowermost sometimes wanting. Gill-rakers of moderate length, the 

 longest less than \ diameter of eye; 13 or 14 (including rudiments) on lower part of 

 anterior arch. Scales spinulose and ciliated; 5 or 6 series between last soft-ray of 

 dorsal and lateral line; breast scaled. Dorsal XII 9-10;^ generally the second and 



1 Sebastes nematophthalmus , Giinther (i860. Cat. Fish., 11, p. 99) was described from two specimens, a 

 large stuffed one believed to have come from Mauritius, and one in spirit, 165 mm. long, which formed part 

 of a collection made by Sir R. Schomburgk in the West Indies. These appear to represent distinct species. 

 I cannot find any trace of the "long, slender, tapering filament above the posterior angle of the orbit" in 

 the West Indian specimen, which is an undoubted Pontinus. 



2 I am indebted to Dr W. H. Longley for notes upon the type of this species In the Paris Museum. 



3 The last ray of both dorsal and anal fins in all Scorpaenids is cleft nearly to its base, and has con- 

 sequently been counted as two rays by many workers. 



