168 HOMOPRION LANCEOLATUS. 



GENUS HOMOPRION.* — Hb/6rooA-. 



Characters. Small, villifoiin, card-like teeth in both jaws ; upper jaw with 

 an external row of larger, conical and pointed teeth; pharyngeal teeth not 

 paved; preopercle with large, radiating serratures. or spines at its angle; bran- 

 chial rays seven. 



HOMOPEION LANCEOLATUS. — Holbrook. 



Plate XXIII. Fig. 1. 



Specific Characters. Tail lanceolate ; body above silvery, with a pale bluish 

 tint ; a series of dark spots along the back, near the root of the dorsal fin ; tail 

 yellow. D. 11-1-21. P. 16. V. 1 - 5. A. 2 - 7. C. 16. 



Synonymes. 



Description. The head is large, broad above, and the snout is very full and 

 rounded. The eye is of moderate size, and is placed one diameter of the orbit 

 from the snout, and two diameters and a quarter from the posterior border of the 

 opercle, with its inferior margin about the median plane of the head. The nostrils 

 are closely approximated, and very near the orbit ; the posterior and larger is sub- 

 oval, the anterior is round, and in a line with the border of the orbit, and on a 

 plane with the superior margin of the eye. 



The mouth opens downwards and backwards, and is large, though the posterior 

 extremity of the upper jaw extends only to the middle of the orbit. The upper 

 jaw is armed with a row of rather stout, conical, recurved teeth, and within this 

 are numerous small, card-like teeth ; the lower jaw has one group of small, card- 



* From ojios, similis, and npiav, serra. 



