88. SPARID^. 
545 
eye. Head completely scaled. Eye about one-half length of head, more 
than 6 times width of preorbital. Yentrals long, reaching front of anal ; 
pectorals small, not longer than eye. Lateral line following the curve of 
the back. Head depth 2|. T>. X, 14; A. Ill, 15; Lat. 1. 85. West 
Indies; occasional on our coast. 
(■Cuv. & Val. iii, 95; Giiutlier, i, 215.) 
aa. Body not twice as long as deep ; scales large. (Pseudopriacanf/fits Bleeker.) 
859. P. aittis Gill. 
Xearly uuiform orange-red in life; vertical fins dotted with black; 
ventrals black. Body oblong, compressed and elevated. Profile very 
oblique; snout extremely short; gape of mouth very oblique, maxillary 
reaching to below orbit. Eye about one-half length of head. Spines 
stouter than in P. macrophtlialmus. Scales much larger and rougher. 
Lateral line running obliquely upwards in front, then abruptly turning 
downwards. Ventrals large, extending beyond origin of anal. Pre- 
opercle and opercle coarsely serrate at angle and on lower limb ; angle 
of preopercle with 2 spines, upper limb simply roughened. Caudal fin 
rounded. Head 2J; depth H. X, 11; A. Ill, 9; Lat. 1. 15. Coast 
of Xew England ; not common. 
{Priacanthus altus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila. 1862, 132.) 
Family LXXXVIII.— SPARID^.* 
{The Spar Old Fishes.) 
Body oblong, more or less elevated, covered with moderate-sized ad- 
herent scales, which are generally more or less strongly ctenoid, some- 
times almost cycloid (“sparoid”). Head large, the skull often with 
traces of the cavernous structure seen in Sckemdce. Xo suborbital stay. 
Mouth moderate or large, terminal, low^, nearly horizontal. Premaxil- 
laries protractile; maxillary without suiiplemental bone, for its whole 
length, slipiiing into a sheath formed by the edge of the broad preorbital ; 
teeth villiform, cardiform, incisor-like or molar ; canines sometimes pres- 
ent; vomer, palatines, and tongue with or without teeth ; gills 1, a large 
slit behind the fourth ; pseudobranchise large ; gill-rakers moderate ; 
branchiostegals 4-7 ; gill-membranes separate, free from the isthmus. 
Edge of preopercle serrated or entire ; opercle usually without spines ; 
sides of head generally scaly. Dorsal fin continuous or deeply notched. 
* Including 87 Pristipomaiidee, and 88 Sparidee of the artificial key to families, on 
page 77. 
Bull. Xat. Mus. Xo. 16 35 
