528 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
i. Craninin with only the median crest developed; anal rays 
about HI, 9 Epinephelus, 27G. 
hhh. Maxillary unknown; “xiyloric cmca innumerable.” 
PllOMICROPS, 277. 
tt Branchiostefrals G; dorsal spines 10, the third fdamentous DULES,278. 
** Anal spines obsolete or reduced to 2; scales very small, smooth. (RlnjptiditcB.) 
j. Dorsal spines 2 or 3 only Rhypticus, 279. 
!270. — CEIVTKOPOMUS Lac6pede. 
{Oxylahrax Bleeker. ) 
(Lacdpede, Hist. Nat. Poi.ss. iv, 248, 1802: type Scwim’uiKlecinudw Bloch.) 
Body cdoiigate, covered with rather small, ctenoid scales. Head 
ohlong-coiiical, depressed, lower jaw projectiiiof ; teeth on jaws, vomer, 
and palatines, all villiform, without canines; tongue smooth. Maxillary 
with a strong supplemental bone. Preopercle serrated; two stronger 
sjtines at its angle; opercle without true spines; preorbital and supra- 
scapular usually serrated. Dorsal tins entirely separated; the first with 
8 spines; the first and second spines usually much shorter tllaii the 
third. Anal fin short, with '3 spines, the second of which is long and 
strong. Caudal forked. LaterM line conspicuous, extending on the 
caudal fin. Branchiostegals 7. Species numerous, inhabiting tropical 
seas. According to Professor Gill the skeleton of Centropomns differs 
so widely from that of the other Serranoids that it should constitute a 
separate family, (xsvr/jov, spine; operculum.) 
a. Lat. 1. about 70; body elongate. 
§'3'9. C. taEDdecimaSBS (Block.) Cnv. & Yak — Rohalo. 
Silvery, greenish above; lateral line black, very distinct; dorsal and 
caudal dusky; other fins j’ellowish; ventrals without dusky area. Pre- 
orbital nearly entire. Third dorsal sitine longer than the fourth; second 
anal siiine comitaratively short, about as long as third. Air-bladder 
anteriorly with two long, slender, backward directed horns. Head 3; 
depth 4i. D. Vll-I, 9; A. Ill, 0; Lat. 1. 70. A large food-fish, abundant 
in the West Indies; ranging northward to Lower California, Florida, 
and Texas. 
{Sciwiia KiHlccinialiH Block. Iclith. 303; Giinther, i, 79; Viiillant & Boconrt, Mi.ss. Sci. 
an Mex. iv, 17 : Ceniropomm viridis Lockingtou, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1877, 1G.)» 
271.— ROC.CUS Mitckill. 
Bass. 
{Lahrax Cuvier, 1817 ; preoccupied in Clurida\) 
(Mitckill, Ropt. ])art, Fisk. N. Y. 1814, 25 : type lioccaa striatus Mitck. = Scla^na lin- 
cata Block.) 
Body oblong or ovate, compressed and more or less elevated. Head 
