1584 Bulletin 4-7^ United States National Museian. 



1900. HARPK PILCHELLA (Poey). 



Head 4|; depth 4f. D. XII, 9; A. Ill, 12, Dorsal tin low; fins some- 

 what produced; veiitrals reaching vent; snout sharp; pectorals with a 

 large dark-blue spot toward the tip; color carmine red, fins edged with 

 darker; base of pectorals w^hitish; side of Itodj^ with a paler rose-colored 

 band. (Poey.) Cuba; known to us solely through Poey's descriptions. 

 (pulchellus, pretty.) 



Cossyphus 'pulchellus, PoEY, Memorias, ii, 208, 1860, Havana; GCinther, Cat., iv, 108,1862. 



Bodianus pulehellus, Poey, Synopsis, 232, 459, 1868. 



Harpe pulchella, Jordan, Review Labroid Fishes, 630, 1890. 



632. DECODON, Giiuther. 



Decodon, Guntiier, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mils., iv, 101, 1802 (tmdlaris). 



Body moderately compressed, oblong, covered with large scales ; head 

 oblong; cheeks, opercles, and lower limb of preopercle scaly, the poste- 

 rior limb being naked; base of dorsal and anal not scaly; lateral line 

 continuous. Teeth essentially as in Harpe, those of the jaw in a single 

 series; 4 canines in the front of each jaw; a posterior canine on each 

 premaxillary. Dorsal with 11 spines; anal with 3. Vertebr;e 12-f 16=:28. 

 Intermediate between Bodianus and Trochoeopus, having the large scales 

 of the former and the naked fins of the latter. A single species, a small 

 fish belonging to the West Indian fauna. It is closely related to Earpe. 

 {Sexa, ten; uSov^, tooth; there being 10 canines.) 



1991. DECODO PIELLARIS (Poey). 



Head 3i; depth 4. D. XI, 10; A. Ill, 10; scales 2A-30-8; vertebra^ 

 12 + 16=28. Body moderately compressed, oblong ; head oblong; cheeks, 

 opercles, and lower limb of preopercle scaly, the posterior limb being 

 naked; teeth uniserial; 4 canines in the front of each jaw; maxillary 

 reaching a little beyond eye, which is as wide as the interorbital space, 

 shorter than snout; edge of preopercle minutely denticulated; caudal 

 emarginate; ventrals not reaching vent; color, according to Poey, rose 

 red, with 3 large red blotches; head with several pearl-colored streaks 

 (yellow in life); a transverse one between the nostrils; 2 oblique ones 

 running from orbit toward subopercle, and a broad one from angle of 

 mouth to angle of preopercle ; some yellow spots on sides of head ; each 

 scale on sides with a yellow spot on its edge; fins mostly red, the soft 

 dorsal and anal with 4 rounded yellow spots; several spots on spinous 

 dorsal and caudal. Length 6 inches. West Indies, north to Florida; 

 known from Cuba, Pensacola Snapper Banks, and Barbados. This small 

 species is not uncommon at Havana. The 2 specimens examined by us 

 were taken from the stomachs of groupers in deep water on the Snapper 

 Banks south of Pensacola. {puellaris, pretty, iYompHella, girl.) 



Cossyphus puellaris, Poey, Memorias, 11, 210, I860, Havana. 



Decodon puellaris, (ICnther, Cat., iv, 101, 1862; Poey, Synopsis, 332, 1868; Jordau, Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. 1884, 545; Jordan, Review Labroid Fishes, 632, 1890. 



