PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 423 



scales anteriorly aud on its flaj^ ; breast scaly ; scales of body large, not 

 ctenoid, with few dermal flaps or none. 



Pores of lateral line very conspicuous. Gill-rakers short and small. 

 Dorsal spines rather slender, the longest contained 2| times in length 

 of head ; the longest soft ray 2J times in length of head. 



Anal spines small, the second and third subequal, one-third as loug as 

 head. Soft anal rays moderate, the longest half as loug as the head. 



The ventrals reach past vent, their leugth contained If times in that 

 of head, the last rays largely united to the belly by a membrane. 



Pectoral long, contained 1^ times in length of head, its base oblique, 

 contained 2J times in leugth of head, the rays all simple. 



D. XI, I, 9 ; A. Ill, 5 ; P. 19 ; V. I, 5. 



Scales in about 28 series, the number being uncertain because many 

 of them are rubbed off. There are about 25 tubes in the lateral line. 



Color mostly obliterated, dusky grayish marbled with blackish; a 

 black suborbital bar; a black bar at caudal base; axil of pectoral 

 whitish with dusky specks, a black spot at its upper edge ; ventrals 

 mostly black. 



11. Gerres olisthostoma, n. sp. 



Mr. E. E. Earll, when engaged in the fishery-census investigation 

 upon the coast of Florida, obtained at Indian River six specimens (No. 

 25118), of a new species of Gerres. They are known as the "Irish pom- 

 pano" and "hog-fish." This species is one of the largest of the genus, 

 and in general form resembles Gerres gula and G. homonymus, haAing 

 short thick body, very protractile snout, elevated dorsal and elongate 

 ventral fins. This species is reported to be rather common in the Indian 

 Kiver region; it is evidently the same as Xo. 125G1, referred by Poey 

 to Gerres rhombeus. The true rhomheus has, also, been sent to the Mu- 

 seum by Professor Poey. 



Description. — A Gerres, with short, thick body, the greatest height 

 of which, at the ventrals, is contained twice in its length and 2f times 

 in the distance from its snout to the tip of the upper caudal lobe. Its 

 least height at the base of the tail, being one-quarter of its greatest 

 height. The greatest width of the body is equal to the greatest height 

 of the tail. 



The scales are large, somewhat loosely set ; 39 in the lateral line ; 

 above it 7; below it 11. Jaws entirely naked, as well as the ordinary 

 patch over the groove for the reception of the protractile snout. The 

 greatest length of the head is contained 3;^ times in that of the body ; 

 the greatest width of the head is equal to half its length, and is half as 

 wide again as the interorbital area. The leugth of snout is equal to the 

 diameter of the eye; the length of the operculum, including the flap, 

 equals one-fifth of the greatest height of the body. The length of the 

 groove for the reception of the premaxillaries equals the length of the 

 maxillary. The upper jaw when protruded extends beyond the tip of 



