Jordan ayid Evcrmann. — Fishes of North America. 1271 



Tampa to Brazil. It reaches but a small size, rarely exceeding a foot, and 

 it inhabits chiefly shallow waters. In Havana it is one of the most 

 common food-fishes, in abundance not exceeded by any other species. Its 

 strongly marked coloration renders its recognition easy. {6vvaypii, an 

 old name of Dentex dentex, a species which this one was thought to resemble. ) 



Salpa purptirescens variegata (Lane Snapper), Catesby, Hist. Nat. Carolina, pi. 17, 1743, 

 Bahamas. 



Simrus stjnagris, LiNNJtus, Syst. Nat., x, 280, 1758; after Catesby. 



Sparus vermicidarig, Bloch & SCHNEmER, Syat. Ichth., 275, 1801, Martinique ; on a draw- 

 ing by Plumier. 



Lutjanus aubrieti, Desmarest, Prem. Dec. Ichth., 17, pi. 2, 1823, Cuba. 



2Iesoprio7i uninotatus, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Pois-s., ii, 449, 1828, San 

 Domingo; Martinique; GCnther, Cat., I, 202. 



Lutjanus uninotatus, Poey, Synopsis, 294, 1868. 



Lutjanus synagris, PoEY, Enumeratio, 27, 1875; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 922; Jor- 

 dan & Swain, I. c, 448; Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1889, 648; Jordan, I. c, 1890, 

 319; Jordan & Fesler, I. c, 450. 



1640. \EOM.ENIS AMBIGUUS* (Poey). 



Head 2i\,; depth 3. D. X, 13; A. Ill, 9; scales (6) 9-53-15, 50 pores. 

 Body oblong, comjjressed, formed much as in N. synagris, but more slender, 

 the anterior profile nearly straight from tip of snout to nape, thence con- 

 vex; snout rather long and jiointed, 3 in head; eye small, 4| in head; 

 interorbital space narrow, carinate, its width 5i in head ; occipital keel 

 rather prominent; preorbital moderate, its least width 6 in head; mouth 

 moderate, slightly oblique, the lower jaw a little projecting, the maxillary 

 extending to ojjposite front of pupil, its length 2f in head. Teeth essen- 

 tially as in X. syiiagris; canines of upper jaw small; enlarged teeth of 

 lower jaw scarcely caninelike; tongue with a single, large, oblong patch 

 of teeth ; vomer with an /1\-shaped patch of teeth, the prolongation on the 

 median line moderate;' no pterygoid teeth. Gill rakers longer than in 

 most species of Neomwnis, about 15 developed on lower part of anterior 

 arch. Preopercle nearly vertical, its emargination very slight, its serr* 

 distinct. Scales rather small, those below lateral line in horizontal series, 

 those above lateral line in regular and very oblique series, which are not 

 parallel with the lateral line; cheek with 5 rows of scales; temporal 

 region scaled from the eye backward, posteriorly with a band of rather 

 large scales followed by smaller ones; bases of soft dorsal and anal scaly; 

 dorsal fin little emargiuate, the spines rather slender and low, the longest 

 2^ in head; longest ray of soft dorsal 2| in head; caudal rather deeply 

 forked, the longest rays 1:^ in head, the median rays 3f ; anal spines slender, 

 regularly graduated, the second spine 4i in head; soft anal rounded, rather 

 low, the longest rays 2f in head ; pectorals long and falcate, 1^ in head ; 

 ventrals If. In spirits, nearly uniform brownish above, paler below, with 



* This species is very -well distinguished from Neoincenis synagris and from Oeyiirus 

 chrvsurus, but it presents such a singular blending of the characters of the two as to lend 

 much probability to Poey's conjecture that it is a hybrid ot Xeomceyiis synagris with 

 Ocyurus chrysurus. Two specimens are known, the one sent by Poey to the U. S. National 

 Museum and described in the paper of Jordan &. Swain; the'other sent by Poey to the 

 museum at Cambridge, is very similar, with well-forked caudal and numerous gill" rakers. 

 The lower jaw is, however, scarcely projecting, and the pectoral short, 1* in head. 



