1488 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum, 



with traces only of 7 pale streaks ; region at base of soft dorsal darker ; 

 spinous dorsal, tips of ventrals, and inside of gill cavity black ; fins other- 

 wise smutty.* Southeast coast of the United States, Charleston to Peu- 

 sacola. (umhrosus, shady.) 



Seicena acuminata, Joedan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 573, 1883. 



Eques acuminatus umhrosus, Jordan & Eigenmann, Review ScioenidsB, 440, 1889, Charles- 

 ton and Pensacola. 



1S74. EQUES PUXCTATUS. Blocli & Schneider. 



(Serrana Hispana.) 



Head .Sf ; depth 3. D. XI or XII-I, 46 ; A. II, 6 or 7 ; scales 8-55 to 59-11 

 or 12. Dorsal spines elongate, the longest 2f in length of body ; soft parts 

 of vertical fins with white spots; body robust, the back much compressed, 

 the general form much as in Eques acuminatus, but the caudal peduncle 

 deeper and more compressed ; profile rather steep, depressed over the eye ; 

 snout slightly longer than eye, 31 in head; eye as wide as iuterorbital 

 region; ]ireorbital broad, as wide as eye; mouth small, subiuferior; Max- 

 illary almost extirely concealed below the preorbital, 2^ in head, reaching 

 to below middle of eye ; teeth in both jaws in broad bands, the outer series 

 of the upper jaw enlarged; preopercle entire, the membrane with slight 

 cilia; gill rakers small, slender, 6-f-ll; lower pharyngeals small; the 

 teeth all conical, those of the posterior angle and inner series somewhat 

 enlarged ; anterior dorsal spines as high as body ; membranes of the soft 

 portions of the vertical fins closely scaled to the tip; caudal broadly 

 rounded; anal short and high; second spine about f; of longest ray, 3 in 

 head ; anal spine placed midway between base of pectoral and base 

 of caudal; pectorals and ventrals short and equal, 1' in head. Color 

 dark brown, a light bar in front of eye extending around the chin, a second 

 pale bar extending around the head immediately behind the eyes, a third 

 extending from in front of dorsal over base of pectorals ; a light bar along 

 base of soft dorsal; a light bar extending from behind the elevated por- 

 tion of the spinous dorsal downward, dividing into 2, the branches 

 running straight back, the upper branch to beginning of last fourth of 

 soft dorsal, the lower brauch to base of caudal; 2 or 3 light, undulating 

 longitudinal bars below these; fins all dark brown, the soft portions of 

 the vertical fins with many whitish stellate spots. AVest Indies; a hand- 

 somely colored fish not uncommon about Cuba and Hayti. The specimen 

 here described from Havana, (punctatus, spotted.) 



* The above account is taken from a specimen from Charleston. Another from Pensa- 

 cola (Silas Stearns' collection) shows the following characters: 



Head 3 J ; depth 3. D. IX-1, 36 ; A. II, 7 ; Lat. 1. 53. Back somewhat elevated, the 

 profile steep .and nearly straight from the tip of the conical and rather pointed snout to 

 the base of the dorsal. Mouth not large, the maxillary extending to below the middle of 

 the eye. Lower jaw included; both jaws with broad "bauds of villiform teeth, the ante- 

 rior series in the upper jaw considerably enlarged. Scales on the head scarcely ctenoid 

 above, cycloid on the cheeks. Gill r.akers short rather stout. Pectorals very short, not 

 reaching halfway to the tips of the ventrals, and but halfway to the anal ; as long as 

 from the snout to the ed<;e of the preopercle; anal fin small, its tip not reaching to the 

 last ray of the second dorsal, its spine robust, iie:irly as high as the fin, J the" length 

 of the head; first dorsal small, with slender .s]>iiit s; scmnd dorsal very long, its tip nearly 

 reaching caudal. Eye rather large. Colomti.-n ( v.iyw hi roblackish,"with traces of about 

 10 narrow horizontal pale streaks along the siiU-s; spinous dorsal and tips of ventrals 

 quite black; other fins smutty ; gill cover black within. 



