1486 Didldin //, United States National Mnseum. 



Subgenus PAREQUES, Gill. 

 1872. EQUES VIOLA, Gilbert- 

 Head 2 a, to 3!,; depth 2\ to 3/, ; eye 4 in head. D. IX or X, 38 to 41 ; 

 A. II, 7 or 8 ; P. 17 to 19 ; scales 50 to 54 in oblique series. Body narrowly 

 wedge-shaped in section, sharply compressed towards dorsal outline, wid- 

 ening below; lower outline of head horizontal, straiglit; ventral outline 

 a gentle convex curve to base of anal which is moderately oblique; lower 

 outline of caudal peduncle slightly concave; anterior upper profile rising 

 steeply in a very gentle curve to front of dorsal, thence more obliquely to 

 front of soft dorsal where the depth of body is greatest. Snout compressed, 

 Avith rather prominent blunt tip, which slightly overhangs the mouth; 

 tip of snout and mandible swollen, provided with large mucous pores, a 

 series of 5 in the mandible, 2 transverse series of 5 each in the snout, of 

 which the posterior lateral pair is minute; mouth horizontal or very 

 slightly oblique, the maxillary reaching about to vertical from hinder mar- 

 gin of pupil, its length measured from tip of snout 2f or 2| in head. Teeth 

 in lower jaw in a wide villiform band, a few of the outer series anteriorly 

 .slightly enlarged; premaxillavy teeth in a wide villiform band, the outer 

 series enlarged, forming moderate cauines, larger than those in front of 

 mandilnilar band. Interorbital space narrow, its width contained 5 to 5^ 

 times in head. Preo])ercle entire, the membranous border sometimes 

 minutely crenulate; opercle ending posteriorly in 2 concealed points, 

 the included opercular membrane covered with fine scales; gill rakers 

 shoi't and weak, 5 above the angle, 9 to 11 movable ones below, the long- 

 est about ;'f eye. Mandible, gular, and branchiostegal membranes and more 

 or less of the snout naked, the scales extending forward in some specimens 

 to bej^ond the nostrils, in others scarcely beyond the front of orbits; head 

 otherwise scaled; lateral line following outline of back, strongly curved 

 anteriorly ; pores of lateral line minute, placed on small scales, irregularly 

 wedged in between the larger ones; above the lateral line are very oblique 

 series running downward and backward, and also vertical series, about 

 50 of the former and 90 to 95 of the latter; scales all ctenoid, except those 

 on anterior part of breast, on lower anterior part of cheeks and on inter- 

 opercle; vertical fins densely covered to near their tips with small ctenoid 

 scales; pectorals and ventrals Avith series of scales on the membranes; 

 spinous dorsal short, usually nearly triangular in outline, the second spine 

 the longest, the others rapidly decreasing to the last; longest spine 

 usually as long as snout and eye, sometimes shorter; soft dorsal long and 

 low, increasing in height backward, the longest ray about 3A in head; 

 depth of caudal peduncle equaling its length behind dorsal fin; anterior 

 insertion of anal fin about under middle of soft dorsal, the length of caudal 

 peduncle behind anal 1| to li in head ; second anal sjjiue strong, its length 

 equaling distance from tip of snout to front or middle of pupil, not nearly 

 reaching anal under the third before the last of the dorsal; pectorals 

 reaching to or nearly to the vertical from the vent, IJ in the head; ven- 

 trals short, the outer ray filamentous, 1? in head; caudal double trunciite, 

 sublanceolate, the middle rays projecting much beyond the outer, \\ in 



