1278 Bulletin 47, United States N'ational Museum. 



vermiliou ; paler below ; faint brown lines rnuninp; obliquely forward and 

 downward from dorsal along the rows of scales ; sides witb narrow sinuous 

 streaks of golden yellow, some of them longitudinal, others obliqut^ ; dor- 

 sal rosy, its margin chielly orange; aual pale at base, rosy at extremity; 

 pectorals yellowish, ventrals rosy, caudal vernjilion; iris vermilion-red; 

 inside of mouth dusky. The bright colors grow faint or disappear in 

 spirits. Length about a foot; here described from a specimen from 

 Havana. West Indies, north to Charleston, south to Rio Janeiro; not 

 uncommon in deep waters as far north as Charleston and Pensacola. 

 Specimens from the coast of Carolina are somewhat deeper than those from 

 Cuba, and with the yellow streaks more pronounced, becoming dark brown 

 in spirits. One of these, in the U. S. National Museum, has 13 dorsal 

 spines. It is not, however, otherwise essentially difterent. (aitre«s, 

 golden; ruhens, reddish.) 



Oentropristis aurorubens, Cuvieb & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., in, 45, 1829, Brazil, 



Martinique, San Domingo. 

 Megoprion elegant, Poey, Meiuorias, ii, 153, 1860, Cuba. 

 Aprion ariom?/i?ts, Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat, Mua. 1883, 142, Pensacola; young 



with pterygoid teeth undeveloped. 

 Mesoprioii aurorubens, Guntheb, Cat., i, 207. 

 Rhombopliles aurorubens, GiLL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci.Phila. 1862, 236; Jordan & Feslee, 



Z.c.,454. 

 RhombopUtes elegans, Poey, Kepertorio, ii, 158, 1868. 

 Lutjanus aurorubens, Vaillant & BocouBX, Miss. Sci. au Mexique, 117, 1877; Jordan & 



Gn.BERT, Synopsis, 549. 



529. APSILUS, Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



(Arnillo.s.) 



Apnlus, Cuvier &, Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vi, 548, 1830 (fuscus, an East Indian 



Tropidinius (Gill, MS.) Poey, Synopsis, 296, 1868 {arnillo — dentatus) . 



This very distinct genus has essentially the cranial structure of Rhom- 

 hopUies, with the scaleless tins, jieculiar squamation, and dentition of 

 Aprion. The prefrontals have the posterior areas solid aud somewhat 

 tumid; there are no teeth on the pterygoids, tongue, or hyoid bones. The 

 dorsal tin is short and scaleless. {a, privative; xpiXoi, bare or bald; the 

 meaning not evident. Our species representing the subgenus Tropidiniiiii, 

 ditiers from Apsihis fuscus chielly in the deeper body and larger head.) 



Subgenus TROPIDINIUS, Gill.* 



1052. APSILUS DENTATUS, Guichenot. 



(Arnillo.) 



Head 3; depth 2f. D. X, 10; A. Ill, 8. Scales 7-60-16, 60 pores. Body 

 rather deep, oblong, elliptical, compressed, the back somewhat elevated ; 

 protile from snout to nape little convex, the nape strongly keeled and 

 considerably convex ; snout rather short and blunt, 3^ in head ; eye large, 



rpojTcs keel; U'lov, nape. 



