2174 DitUctin //, United States National Museum. 



spines are fully extended they reach nearly to tip of candal; anterior 

 margins of first 3 spines minutely serrated, the serrations being in several 

 rows; longest ray of soft dorsal about \ as long as head; length of middle 

 caudalrays equal to length of anal base ; caudal slightly emarginate ; length 

 of pectoral a little less than 2 in body; longest vseparate ray of pectoral 

 about \l times as long as shortest, its length equal to that of middle 

 caudal rays; length of ventral spine \ of length of longest ventral ray; 

 ventral when extended reaching to third ray of anal; longest anal ray 

 about \ as long as head; scales very rough, iji about 7 rows between 

 origin of second dorsal and lateral'line, and 19 rows below lateral line; 

 lateral line with about 40 tubes, the number of rows of scales counted 

 obliquely about 55. Color in life, rosy; head and pectoral speckled with 

 dark brown ; 6 or 7 small dark blotches on upper edge of pectoral. Some 

 specimens have the inner surface of pectoral dark on its lower half. In 

 1 specimen the dark blotches on pectoral are grouped into 4 half bands, 

 of which the middle 2 are very small. Oif Cape Catoche, Yucatan, Gulf of 

 Mexico. (Goode & Bean.) {militaris, like a soldier, from the high spines.) 



Prionotus militaris, Goode & Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, 464, pi. cxi, fig. 38D, and pi. 

 cxn, fig. 384, 1896, off Cape Catoche, Yucatan, in 25 fathoms. (Coll. Albatross.) 



2502. BELLATOR EGRETTA (Goode & Bean). 



Head2f; depth 4^; eye 3i in head; snout 2i; interorbital width 2 in 

 eye. D. XI-11 ; A. 1. 10; P. 12+3; V.I, 5; gill rakers .r+9; maxillary 

 nearly 3 ; mandible 2A ; scales 9-100-32, 60 tubes. Body rather slender, 

 tapering rapidly posteriorly; head moderately long; snout not descend- 

 ing so abruptly as in F. militaris, without projections in front. Spines 

 of head moderately strong, without subsidiary basal spines; opercular 

 and preopercular spines about equal in length, 2 in snout ; exposed edges 

 of bones of head minutely serrated, teeth at end of snout slightly 

 enlarged; humeral spine small; nuchal spines not well developed; 1 or 2 

 spines at front of supraorbital, and 2 or 3 at its posterior portion. Teeth 

 in villiform bauds on jaws, and on vomer and palatines, the vomerine 

 band very narrow. A slight groove across the nape immediately behind 

 eyes, continued downward by an interspace between the preopercle and 

 opercle. Distance from tip of snout to origin of dorsal equal to length of 

 head; base of spinous dorsal equal to length of head without snout; first 

 dorsal spine coarsely serrated for first sixth of its length, produced into a 

 filament extending beyond end of caudal, the spiue thus exceeding length 

 of fish ; second spine nearly as long as base of fin, the last 3 small ; severnl 

 succeeding spines also weakly serrated on their anterior margins ; first ray 

 of second dorsal serrated on anterior margin, the rays increasing in size 

 to the ninth which is nearly I length of head ; caudal somewhat emargi- 

 nate, length of middle rays a trifle longer than base of spinous dorsal; 

 origin of anal almost directly opposite that of second dorsal; length of 

 anal spine about f that of first ray, the rays increasing in length posteri- 

 orly, the ninth being 2 in base of second dorsal ; longest separate pectoral 

 ray as long as base of second dorsal, the shortest 2 in head; ventrals 

 reaching origin of anal. Color light brownish yellow on back, paler 



