PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 249 



pressed and slightly serrated. Head short, compressed, blnntish. Snout 

 extremely short, not longer than the ])upil of the very large eye. Eye 

 about 3 in head. Mouth somewhat oblique ; mandible extendhig farther 

 forward than eye. Maxillary extending beyond root of mandible about 

 to margin of opercle. Both jaws well provided with teeth. Cheeks 

 broadly triangular, almost equilateral, smaller than eye. Opercle 

 short, little oblique. Gill-rakers rather long, about two-thirds diameter 

 of eye. 



Insertion of dorsal about midway between base of caudal and middle 

 of eye. Caudal deeply forked, the lower lobe slightly the longer, about 

 as long as head. Anal long and high, its base 3| in body, considerably 

 longer than head. Pectorals long, li in head, reaching about to the 

 front of the small ventrals, which do not reach the vent and are about 

 2^ times in head. 



Scales thin, caducous. 



Color in life translucent, very pale, with bluish reHections. Sides 

 with a narrow and not shar[)ly defined but bright silvery shade, scarcely 

 wider than the pupil, distinct for the whole length of the body. Snout 

 yellowish ; top of head dusty ; the occiput nearly black ; sides of head 

 lustrous silvery. Middle Hue of head blackish; a series of dark points 

 along the base of the dorsal, becoming a well-defined dark streak be- 

 hind the fin. Dark points along base of anal, these also becoming a 

 dark stripe behind the fin. Caudal distinctly yellowish, with many 

 dark points; its tip dusky; other fins pale; the dorsal slightly yel- 

 lowish. 



This species is very common in the Bay of Galveston, where many 

 specimens were obtained. The longest about 2.^- inches in length. One 

 specimen was obtained at Pensaowla; another is in our collection from 

 Wood's Holl, Mass., where it is the commonest species of Stolephorus. 

 From most of the North American species of this genus, S. mitchiUi is 

 distinguished by the length of the anal and by the less sharply-defined 

 lateral stripe. 



SCOPELID.E. 



19 Synodus intermedins (Spix) Voey.—Sand Dicer, SmcI Laiince. P. (;i0877.) 

 1 Saurus inlermedius Spix. Pise. Bras. 81. Giintber v, 390. 

 Sam-US anolis C. & V., xxii, 48:1. 

 Synodus intermedins Poey, Syn. Pise. Cub. 414 (No. 68). 



Numerous specimens, most of them badly mutilated, were obtained 

 from the stomachs of lied Snappers at Pensacola. Many of these were 

 full of spawn. The most perfect specimens, about a foot in length, shows 

 the following characters : 



Color grayish-white above, becoming abruptly paler on the level of 

 the upper margin of the pectorals ; back and sides with eight broad 

 dark cross-bands, which are broadest near the lateral line; lower ])art 

 of sides with a pinkish tint. A jet-black blotch on shoulder girdle 



