2710 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



Aphoristia orwata, Kaup, Archiv fur Naturgesch. 1858, 106; Gunther, Cat., iv, 490,1862; 



Poet, Sjnopsis, 409, 1808 ; Poey, Enumeratio, 140, 1875 ; Knee, Novara Fische, iii, 292 ; 



D. 90 ; A. 75 ; depth 3i in length. 

 Aphoristia plaqiuaa, Jordan, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, 53 ; not ,S'. pjlagiusa of this paper. 

 Symphurus pla<jusia, Jordan & Goss, Review Flounders and Soles, 324, 1889. 



3086. SYMPHURUS PLAGIUSA* (Linnieus). 

 (Tongue Fish.) 



Head 5; depth 3 to 3^. D. 86 to 95; A. 7.5 to 80; scales 8.5 to 93. Body 

 not very elongate. Body grayish, with dark cross hands more distinct 

 than in related species; dorsal and anal more or less mottled or spotted 

 with darker; caudal similarly colored, not distinctly hlack. South Atlan- 

 tic* and Gulf coasts of the United States, from Cape Hatteras to Pensacola 

 and Key West, replacing S. plafjusia northward, the species as similar as 

 the two names; very common on the sandy shores of our South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States. Our numerous specimens are from Beaufort, Charles- 

 ton, Pensacola, and Key West. Those from Key West nearly plain gray, 

 as would be expected in fishes taken from the coral sands. (TrAa/^zoj, 

 oblique.) 



Pleuronectes plagiusa^JjiNyxvs, Syst. "Nat., Ed. xii, 455, 1766, on a specimen from Dr. Gar- 

 den, probably from Charleston, but the locality not quite certain; and of various 

 copyists. 



Plagusiafasciata, KOLVROO^ MS., De Kay, New York Fauna: Fishes, 304, 1842, Charles- 

 ton. 



Glossichthys plagiusa, GiLL, Cat. Fish East Coast N. Am., 51, 1861. 



Plagusia plagiusa, Gill, Cat. Fish. East Coast N. Am., 794, 1873. 



Aijhoristia plagiusa, Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1878, 368; Jordan, I. c, 

 1880, 22; Jordan & Gilbert, I. c, 1882, 305 and 618; Jordan <fc Gilbert, Synopsis, 842, 

 1883 ; Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1884, 144. 



Aphoristia fasciata, Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, 53. 



Symphurus pilagiusa, Jordan & Goss, Review Flounders and Soles, 325, 1889. 



3087. STMPHURUS PUSILLUS (Goode & Bean). 



Head 5 in total length ; depth 31. D. 78 ; A. 70 ; scales 85 to 90-35 (trans- 

 verse") ; eye 5i in head ; snout ol ; length of gape of mouth 4f . Body slender, 

 lanceolate; mouth small, oblique, curved, its angle under anterior margin 

 of pupil of lower eye ; dentition feeble ; eyes small, close together, in the 

 same vertical line; tubular nostril midway between lower eye and tip of 

 snout; scales small, strongly ctenoid; jaws and snout scaled. Dorsal 

 beginning above middle of eye, its highest rays 2f in depth of body; 

 greatest height of anal 3; median caudal rays short; ventrals well sepa- 

 rated from anal. Color light brown, with 6 or 7 cross bars of slightly 



* A specimen of Symphurus, nearly 6 inches long, collected at Beaufort, North Carolina, 

 by Prof. O. P. Jenkins, seems referable to Sym.phurus jmsillus rather tlian to the typical 

 plagivsa. It is highly mottled iu coloration, the body and fins being profusely speckled 

 and blotched with blackish, besides 9 or 10 rather distinct cross bands. D. 85; A. 72; 

 scales about 80. Depth 3J in length. Another large specimen, 7 inches long, from the 

 Florida Keys, is iu the museum at Cambridge. This has: D. 82; A. 72; scales 76. Depth 

 3 in length.' Color brown, almost ])lain, ex<ept that the tins are mottled, especially poste- 

 riorly : caudal tin not black. If these two specimens are really typical of Symphurus 

 2nmilus, it probably can not be separated as a species from S.j'lagiusa. 



