926 OOXTEIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
tuberance; posterior nostril slit-like, much larger than the roundish 
anterior nostril; opercles very short and deep; cheeks and opercles 
scaly, rest of head naked ; mouth low, horizontal, rather small ; both 
iaws with a band of cardiform teeth in front, the anterior series more 
or less enlarged, sometimes canine-like ; sides of each jaw with 2 to 4 
series of molars ; gill-rakers small. Scales large. Dorsal continuous, 
rather low, its spines slender; a procumbent spine before the dorsal, 
concealed by scales in some of the s])ecies; caudal deeply forked; 
anal spines rather small ; pectoral rather narrow, usually very long. 
Second intcrsjnncd hone of the anal enlarged^ pen-shaped, the end of the 
air-bladder being received into its concave part. “The skull is ex- 
tended downwards to the chevron of the vomer, and entire on each 
side behind the forehead ; the paras])henoid lias a deep but thin infe- 
rior crest, which is more or less notched in front of its posterior decur- 
rent processes; the forehead comparatively narrow, ill-defined, de- 
pressed above the preorbital region, horizontally pitted; the occipi- 
tal crest extending far forwards and thickened with vertical osseous 
deposits, the inner as well as the outer lateral crests depressed near 
the orbits.” {Gill, MSS.) Species rather numerous, mostly of small 
size, chiefly of tropical America. (Latin calamus, a pen.) 
8Y6 (6). C. rae^acCBJSialus Sw. — Plume-fish-, Fez de Pluma. 
Light olive, with bluish reflections, the young with dark cross-bars; 
front of head and preorbital region with horizontal anastomosing wavy 
lines of steel blue, the interspaces yellowish ; ventrals pale. Body com- 
pressed, the back arched, the anterior profile steep, not very convex ; 
depth of preorbital half head ; preocular prominence not very sharp ; 
eye moderate, 4 in head. Cleft of mouth 3| in head. Anterior teeth 
of each jaw moderately enlarged, G to 8 in number; outermost tooth on 
each side of upper jaw much larger than the others, forming a strong 
canine directed outward and forivard. A concealed procumbent spine 
before dorsal ; dorsal of moderate height, the soft rays highest ; caudal 
deeply forked, the upper lobe the longer; anal spines small, gradu- 
ated; pectoral reaching front of anal, a little longer than head. Head 
34 ; depth 2-}. D. XII, 12 ; A. Ill, 10 ; scales G-55-1G. West Indies, 
north to Florida. 
{Pagellus calamus C. & V. vi, 20<>, 1830 : Calamus megacephalus Swainson, Nat. Hist. 
Fish, ii, 222, 1839: Chrysophrys calamus Giiuther, i, 187 ; Poey, Ann. Lyc. Nat. His^ 
N. Y. X, 178, 1872; 1 Calamus pennatula Guichenot, Rdvue ties Pagels iu Mem. Soc. 
Imp. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg, xiv, 112, 1868.) 
876 (c). C. bajoHatlo (Bloch & Schneider) Poey. 
Bluish gray, with bright reflections ; a blue stripe below eye ; angle 
