942 Bulletin 4J, United States National Museum. 



spines short aud tbick, not connected by membrane in adult ; ventrals 

 short, their tips scarcely reaching halfway to anterior anal spine, 3 in 

 head ; caudal widely forked ; lobes about 2j in length of body ; dorsal 

 and anal fins falcate ; anterior rays reaching almost to i^osterior end of 

 fins; in adults, dorsal lobe 2?, anal lobe 4^, in length of body. Color 

 bluish above, silvery below; lobes of dorsal black in young; in adults 

 the fins are all bluish with lighter tips. The young differ from the adult 

 as above described in the following respects: The profile is scarcely con- 

 vex; snout shorter and less vertical ; spines much longer and connected 

 by membranes ; lobes of vertical fins shorter; dorsal lobe with black; 

 fins all much darker; jaws with bands of villiform teeth; eye larger. 

 West Indies; Cape Cod to Brazil; abundant southward; ranging north 

 in the Gulf Stream to Woods Hole, the adult rarely taken northward. As 

 a food-fish this species is less valuable than its congener, carolinua. 

 (falcatus, scythe-shaped.) 



Labrus falcatt(s, Jjiytixvs, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 1758, 284, America; Museum de Geer. 

 Trachiiiuliiii falcatus, Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 575, 1886; Meek & Goss, I. c, 1S84, 124. 

 ChictodoH 7-liomhouIes, Block, pi. 209, 1787, Martinique; ou a drawing made by Pumiek. 

 Trachiniitux spinosiis, De Kay, N. Y. Fauna: Fishes, 117, jil. 19, fig. 53, 1842, New York Harbor. 

 Acanlhiuiou rhomboiden, Lao£pede, Hist, Nat. Poiss., iv, 500, 1803. 

 TrachinolKs rhomboidcs, CuviER & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., viii, 407, 1831. 

 Trachynolns rhomhoides, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 974, 1883. 



Trii.cliivotns fvsais, CuviEU & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., viii, 410, 1831, Brazil. 

 Trachiinotiif! ouatus, Guniheb, Cat., ii, 481, 18G0, (iu part, not of Linn.eus), and of many recent 

 writers. 



1338. TRACHIXOTTJS CULTERI, Jordan & Starlss. 



Head3|; depth H. D. VI-I, 17; A. 11-1,17. Maxillary 3 in head; 



eye 3| ; snout ii. Dorsal lobe l-i\j in head ; pectoral Inr; caudal ^ longer 

 than head. Body very deep, compressed, the back much elevated. Snout 

 very blunt and convex, the rest of profile straight and steep; lower jaw 

 somewhat included ; base of dorsal and anal very oblique. Dorsal and 

 anal lobes rather low. Caudal long. Lateral line little elevated in front, 

 the curve IJ in straight part. Gill rakers very short, about x -f 14. Teeth 

 persistent. Bluish gray, silvery below, tinged with yellow, everywhere 

 much soiled with blackish dots, no distinct markings anywhere ; the axil 

 only slightly dusky ; fins all dusky except middle of caudal and lobe of 

 anal, and the ventrals which are whitish. Five specimens, each about 8 

 inches long taken in the Astillero at Mazatlan. Close to Trucliinotus falcatus 

 and to T. ovatus, but with the vertical fins lower. (Named for George 

 Bliss Culver, its collector, a member of the Hopkins Expedition to Sin- 

 aloa, December, 1894.) 



Tracliiiioliis cidveri, Jordan & Starks, Kept. Fislies Sinaloa, MS., 1S95, Mazatlan. (Type, No. 

 2691, L. S. jr., Univ. Mus. Coll. Hopkins Expedition.) 



1339. TRACHINOXrS KENNEDTI, Steindacliner. 

 (Palometa.) 



Head 31 ; depth at vent 2^^ ; at anal 2r,r in specimens 2 feet long, young 

 somewhat deeper, with lower fins. D. VI-I, 19; A. 11-1,16. Curve of lat- 

 eral line f in straight part. Eye 5 in head ; maxillary 2f . Dorsal lobe I5 ; 



