332 REVIEW OF SPECIES OF FRIONOTUS. 



kk. [Scales very small ; preorbital produced into an obtuse pro- 

 cess, projecting beyond the snout ; spines on head 

 well developed ; pectoral fins truncated.] 



BiROSTRATUS, 14. 



aa. [Dorsal rays IX-14. A. 14. Scales 45 to 50 ; vertex and suout without spines ; 



preorbital terminating in a flat, short, triangular, 

 serrated disk ; palatine teeth very minute, in a very 

 narrow baud ; pectorals reaching to tenth anal ray 

 and marked by a very large black blotch.] 



Japonicus, 15. 



1. Prionotus alatus. 



Prionotus alatus Goode & Beau, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo61.,xix, 210, 18^.3 (deep 

 sea off Charleston, S. C.) ; Jordan, Cat. Fish N. Am., 114, 1885 (copied). 



Habitat. — Gulf Stream. 



This species is known only from the original type. It seems to be a 

 very well marked species, distinguished especially by its very long pec- 

 toral fins. 



2. Prionotus punctatus. 



? Trigla punctata Bloch, Ichthyol., taf. 353, about 1790 (Martinique, on a draw- 

 ing by Plumier); Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 13, 1«01 (copied), Cu- 

 vier, Rcgne Animal, 1829 (name only). 



Prionotus punctatus Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 93, 1829 (Antilles; Bra- 

 zil ; Martiuique) ; Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. 193 1860 (Brazil; Jamaica; 

 Caribbeau Sea; Patagonia). 



Habitat. — West Indies and coast of South America; not known from 

 the coasts of the United States. 



This s])ecies is known to us from two small specimens collected (prob- 

 ably at Tnxi)an) on the east coast of Mexico, by Mr. T. Salt. The char- 

 acters given in our analysis are in part from these specimens, and in 

 part from the specimens in the museum at Paris, the types of Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes. 



We feel absolutely certain that this species is the Prionotus punctatus 

 of Cuviei' and Valenciennes, but not that it is identical with the spe- 

 cies figured by Plumier, to which Bloch has given the name of Trigla 

 punctata. 



The figure of Plumier shows a bright red body, with many small 

 spots of a darker red, while red spots are scattered over all of the fins, 

 except the spinous dorsal and the ventrals. In general form, and in 

 the armature of the head, so far as this is shown in the plate, Plumier's 

 figure most resembles the present species, but the red color suggests a 

 possibility that some of the deep-water species may have been intended. 



We know little of the life-coloration of the specimens referred by us 

 to P. punctatus, as they are now faded. At present, but two species 

 are positively known from the West Indian fauna, P. rubio, which could 

 by no means have been the original of Plumier's figure, and the present 

 one, which much resembles it. 



Bloch's figure of " Trigla Carolina," usually identified with P. puncta- 

 tus, is almost certainly P. tribulus. 



