1364 Bulletin ^y, United States Natiojial Museum. 



Sparm sargus, Linn^us, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 278, 1758, Mediterranean. 



Sargus variegatus, Lac^pkdh, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 207, 1803, Mediterranean ; Goode, 

 Cat. Fish. Beriuuda, in Am. Jour. Science and Arts 1877, 292. 



Sargus raucus, Geoffroy St. Hilaiee, Descr. de I'Egypto, Poiss., pi. xviii, fis- i, 1813, 

 Coast of Egypt. 



Sargus rondrlctii, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vi, 14, pi. 141, 1830, Mediter- 

 ranean. 



Sargus vitula, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vi, 48, 1830, Mediterranean. 



Diplodus sargus, Jordan & Tesler, I. c, 525, 1893. 



Family CLII. M^ENIDiE. 

 (Thk Picauels.) 



Body oblong or elongate, covered witli moderate or small ciliated scales; 

 mouth moderate or small, extremely protractile, the spines of the premax- 

 illaries extending backward to the occiput; teeth small or wanting, all 

 pointed; no incisors or molars; dorsal continuous or divided, the spines 

 very slender; preopercle entire; intestine short, with few pyloric cojca. 

 Carnivorous shore fishes, chiefly of the Old World. In the form of the 

 mouth they present analogies to the Gerridw, in other regards they closely 

 resemble the H(vmulid(v. Genera 4 or 5 ; species about 25. ( Pristipomalidw, 

 b, in part, GUnther, Cat. Fishes, i, 38G-396). 



M^NIN^ : 

 a. Jaws with small teeth; dorsal fin nearly continuous, its rays XI, 11; hody com 

 pressed; scales moder.ate. Spicara, 557. 



EmMELICHTHYIN^ : 



aa. Jaws toothless; dorsal fius 2, the spines very slender, 12 to 14 in numher, some 

 of them free; hody elongate; lower ]>harynireals with cardiforiu teeth. 



EMiMELICHTHYS, 558. 



557. SPICARA, Rafinesque, 



Spicara, Kafinesque, Caratteri, etc., 51, 1810 (flexuoaa=*maris). 

 Sniaris, Cuvier, Eegne Animal, Ed. I, 269, 1817 (smaris). 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with moderate or small ciliated scales; 

 mouth small, extremely protractile, the spines of the maxillaries extending 

 backward to the occiput; vomer without teeth. Dorsal continuous or 

 nearly so, its rays XI, 11, the spines very slender; preopercle entire; intes- 

 tine short, with few pyloric Cfeca; scales 60 to 70. .Shore fishes of the Old 

 World; one of them on doubtful authority ascribed to the West Indies. 

 This genus is chiefly confined to the Mediterranean and neighboring 

 ■waters. {Spicara, a local name in Sicily, probably from sjnca, a spike.) 



1741. SPIOAIU MARTIXICA (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



Closely allied to the European species, Spicara smaris, but with the 

 body rounded, compressed, the suborbital narrower and more notched. 

 Color apparently plain, a small black spot on the side. D. XII, 11 ; A. Ill, 

 9. (Cuvier & Valenciennes.) West Indies. The type of this species, 4 

 inches long, is reputed to have been sent to Paris by Plee, from Martini(iue. 



