2282 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



Dorsal fiu low, coutinuous, the soft rays but little higher than the spines, 

 which are slender and flexible, the longest 3^ in head; candal short, 

 rounded, its length 5;? in body; anal similar to soft dorsal; pectoral I as 

 long as head. Grayish olive, much variegated with yellowish and dark 

 olive; about 6 irregular dusky bands on the body, which extend on the 

 dorsal flu; whitish markings on body forming roundish spots, surrounded 

 by reticulations of grayish olive; head jnarbled, its posterior part, as well 

 as the sides of the back and pectoral base, with small blackish dots; mem- 

 brane lining inside of maxillary with 2 curved inky-black bands on a 

 whit(! ground; angle of mouth with a black sjiot; lining of opercle black; 

 lins all variegated like the body. Florida Keys to Cuba. Here described 

 from the type of 0. scapMurum, from Garden Key, but 0. macrognathum 

 seems to be the same, (fiaxpo?, long; yvcx'Ooi, jaw.) 



Ojnsthognathus macrognathus* roEY, Memorias, ii, 284, July, 18C0, Cuba. (Coll. Poey.) 

 Opisthoynathusviegastoma, Gunthee, Cat., n, 255, September, 1860, Gulf of Mexico. 



(Haslar Collection.) 

 Opisthognathus scaphiurvs, Goode & Bean, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus.^882, 417, Garden Key, 



Florida (Type, No. 5936, U. S. Nat. Mus. Coll. Dr. Wbitehurst) ; Jordan & Gilbeet, 



Synopsis, 943, 1883. 



2618. OPISTHOfiNATHlIS OMMATUM, Jcnkin.s & Evermann. 



Head 3; width of head 5; depth 5; eye 3 in head. D. 28; A. 18; scales 

 about 140. Body moderate, compressed, depth 4t; width behind the head 

 8A in length of body. Head large, its breadth equaling its depth, being 

 5 in length of body. Scales small, embedded; head naked, lateral line 

 extending past middle of dorsal lin. Mouth large. Maxillary long, 1^ in 

 head; postorbital portion 2-^^^ in head, not extending beyond head; snout 

 short, its length less than I diameter of eye; distance from tip of snout 

 to end of maxillary 3i'o- in length of body and li in head. Teeth in front 

 part of each jaw in several series, on sides of jaws reduced to a single 

 series, the outer series strong; a tooth on the vomer; gill membranes 

 connected; the interorbital space very narrow, lis iu head. Distance 

 from snout to origin of dorsal but little greater than length of head; 

 space between dorsal and caudal fins i greater than length of snout; no 

 depression between spinous and soft rays of dorsal fin, the dorsal equal- 

 ing the anal in height, its longest ray 1| times the eye; pectorals slightly 

 longer than ventrals, being 2 in head; breadth of pectorals 3 in head; 

 ventrals inserted slightly in front of pectorals; caudal rounded and nar- 

 row. Coloration : Body irregularly mottled with dark, head evenly black- 

 ish; dorsal fin blackish on the posterior portion, with 2 rows of 4 or 5 pale 

 spots well separated ; a large ocellated spot from the third to the sixth 

 spines, iueludiug them, greater than diameter of eye; anal fin black, with 

 a series of pale spots on the rayS; the base pale ; caudal black, with 2 pale 



* Poey thus describes his specimens of Opisthognathvs innrrognatlnnn : "Head '-^^ in 

 total; depth 5J; eye nearly 4, twice length of snout, 3 times iiitiroi liitiil xvi<ltli. 1). XI, 16; 

 A. II, 16. Vomer "with 2 teeth; spine.s not pungent. Bod\ covered willi hirge yellowish 

 jioints on a brown ground ; 7 broad brown bands on .sides, not reaching belly," but extend- 

 ing to middle of dorsal, which, like the anal, hsis yellow points; a Targe black ocellus 

 between sixth and nintli spines of dorsal; maxillary with 2 ink-black bands on a milk- 

 white ground; pectorals, ventrals, and caudal yellowish with black points. No pyloric 

 cffica; vertebra} 10 -f- 24= 34, the first 5 strong." (Poey.) 



