PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 85 



a brigbt green stripe from eye around snout ; another from eye to eye 

 above; another undulating stripe below eye ; several green spots and 

 dashes behind eye ; ujiper lip reddish ; naked skin of middle of lower 

 jaw green; teeth deep greenish-blue; vertical fins all brownish-red, 

 verging on orange above ; their edges, including sides and tip of caudal 

 all bright greenish-blue ; ventral flesh-color, tinged with orange, its 

 anterior edge greenish-blue; pectoral very pale reddish,. the first and 

 last ray light blue ; a greenish dot at the base of each membrane of 

 dorsal and anal ; axil reddish. 



Older specimens aresimilar in color, but with the head more pink- 

 ish and its markings more diffuse. In spirits the green strij)es and 

 spots on head become fainter ; the red of upper lii) and axil and the 

 orange of fins fade. 



This species is abundant about rocks at Key West, and is also not 

 uncommon in the Havana market, where it is known still as Guacamaia. 

 Our fish ai^pears to be the Guacamaia of Parra, on which, so far as the 

 l^rinted record shows, the Scarus guacamaia of Cuvier was based. The 

 specimens in Cuvier's possession, afterwards decribed by Valenciennes 

 under the name of Scarus guacamaia, have canines in the upper jaw, 

 and apparently belong to a distinct and (to us) unknown sj)ecies, to 

 which Poey has given the name of Searus pleianun. We have seen no 

 specimens a yard in length, as mentioned by Parra, nor have we seen 

 any with the caudal lobes prolonged to the extent shown in his figure. 



None of our specimens, 3'oung or old, show traces of canines. 



2. Scarus coeruleus. 



Novacula coerulea (the Bluefisli). Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, «fec, 1743,^3, 



tab. 18 (Bahamas). 

 Loro Parra, Descr. Dif. Piezas Hist. Nat., 1787, 57, lam. 27, f. 1 (Cuba). 

 Trompa Parra, 1. c. f. 2. 

 Corypliwna candea Bloch, AuslJindische Fische, ii, 120, taf. 176, 1783. (In 



part, after Catesby and a figure by Aubriet, altered from a figure by 



Plumier.) Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1788, 1191 (copied). 

 iScar«8C()e?-i<?e»8 Bloch & Schneider, SystenialchthyoL, 1801,288. (AfterCates- 



by, and Trompa of Parra.); Cnv. & Val. xiv, 186, 1839 (St. Thomas); 



Cuvier, Eegne Animal, ed. II, 1829. 

 Pseudoscarus coeruleus Giinther, iv, 1862, 227 (coi>ied). Guichenot, Scarid^s, 



Mus. Paris (Proc. Soc. Imp. Nat., Cherbourg), 1865, 24 (St. Thomas, 



San Domingo) ; Poey, Repertorio, i, 373, 1867 ; Poey, Syuoi^sis, 1868, 348; 



Poey, Euumeratio, 1875, 117 (Cuba): Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., v, 



33, 1876 (Bermuda). 

 Scarus loro Blocli & Schneider, Systema Ichthyol., 1801, 288. (Alter Loro of 



Parra). 

 t Scarus trilobatus Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 1803, 21 (on a drawing by 



Plumier). 

 ? Sjyarus holocyaneos Lacdpede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 1603, 45 (on a copy by 



Aubriet of a drawing of Plumier; the copy colored entirely blue in 



order to represent this species ; the original drawing probably intended 



for Sparisoma chrysopterum ; the same copy by Aubriet, the original of 

 > Bloch's engraving of Scarus caruleiis). 



