106 . SCORPyENID^ — SEBASTODES. 
673 
and anotlier across the opercular spines; fins all pinkish red, the mem- 
branes olive; vertical fins narrowly edged with dusky; top of head usu- 
ally with alternating cross-shades of pinkish and yellowish; yellowish 
shades sometimes replaced by light olive; other specimens are quite red; 
still others brownish; the light areas on the back have a position sim- 
ilar to that of the rosy spots in S. eonsteUatus. Body stout and com- 
pressed, the back elevated. Month rather large, the broad maxillary 
extending behind the orbit, its length 2 in head; premaxillary on level 
of lower edge of pupil; jaws snbeqnal, the lower somewhat projecting, 
but without symiihyseal knob; the ujqier jaw emarginate at tip. Cranial 
ridges long and low, higher than in rastrelUger^ the preocular, supraoc- 
ular, occipital, and sometimes tympanic present; iireocular spines con- 
spicuous, extending well backward; occqiital spines rather long, diverg- 
ing backward ; iiiterorbital space broad and flattish^ narrower than eye, 
occupied by two raised ridges, covered by the scales; preopercnlar 
spines moderate, some of them usually divided into two, three, or four 
at tip, the middle one the largest. Eye moderate, high np, 4-4 J in head ; 
preorbital very broad ; snborbital stay short. Jaws naked. Gill-rakers 
rather long and strong, the longest slightly clavate, nearly half as long 
as eye. Dorsal spines very strong and high, about as in chlorostictiis, 
nearly as high as in nialiger, the highest more than half length of head, 
and rather higher than the very high soft rays; membrane of spinous 
dorsal rather deeply incised, but less so than in maliger; second anal 
spine 3 in head, scarcely longer than the third, and not much stronger, 
about two-thirds as high as the soft rays; caudal truncate; pectoral 
shorter than head, not reaching tlie vent; its base rather broad, its 
length 3^ in body; veutrals not reaching vent. Peritoneum white. D. 
XIII-IG; A. Ill, C; Lat. 1. 55. L. 18 inches. Coast of California, 
abundant southward; apparently a geographical variety of S. caurimis, 
but quite different in color. 
{SciastichtJnjs vexillaris Jor. & Gilb. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 292.) 
1029 . S. maligei* Jor. & Gilb. 
Color warm yellowish brown, the anterior portion of the back and 
sides usually clear yellow; breast yellow; anterior part of body and 
head, especially in the adult, closely covered with small round spots of 
a clear orange-brown color; posterior jiart of body darker than ante- 
rior, variously mottled; soft fins all slaty black, the pectorals and dorsal 
paler at base and speckled; brownish shades radiating from the eyes. 
Body oblong, robust. Dead large. Mouth moderate, the jaws nearly 
Bull. Nat. Mus. Xo. IG 43 
