4 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



U. S. N. M. No. 38817. Tokyo market. Educational Museum of Japan. Length, 

 133 mm. 



Family LETHRINIDAE 



Body ovate or oblong, compressed. Head compressed, pointed. 

 Mouth low, terminal, little inclined, protractile. Maxillary without 

 supplemental bone, mostly slips below deep preorbital. Upper teeth 

 of jaws laterally uniserial, conic or molar and inner anterior teeth villi- 

 form. Palate and tongue toothless. Nostrils paired. Gill mem- 

 branes broadly united, free from isthmus. Gills 4, slit behind fourth. 

 Pseudobranchiae present. Gill rakers short, knoblike. Scales cte- 

 noid, moderate in size. Lateral line simple. Subocular shelf vestig- 

 ial or small. Pyloric coeca few. Cheeks naked. Top of head 

 naked. Ventral with axillary scale. Dorsal continuous, soft and 

 spinous parts subequal. Anal like soft dorsal. Dorsal spines 10. 

 Caudal emarginate or lunate. Ventral thoracic, with spine and 5 

 rays. 



Tropical shore fishes, greatly suggestive of the families Lutjanidae 

 and Pomadasyidae, but the head naked. All but one species in the 

 Indo-Pacific. 



ANALYSIS OF GENERA 



a'. Lethrininae. Palate edentulous Lethrinus. 



a^. Neolethrininae. Whole roof of mouth and palate covered 



with small molar teeth Neolethrinus. 



Genus LETHRINUS Cuvier 



Lethrinus Cuvier, Rfegne Animal, ed. 2, vol. 2, p. 184, 1829. (Type, Sparus 



choerorhynchus Schneider, designated by Jordan and Thompson, Proc. 



U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 41, p. 558, 1912.) 

 Schour ForskIl, Descript. Animal., p. 45 (52), 1775. Atypic. [Type, Sciaena 



nebulosa Forskal, assumed by vernacular schaur (inadmissible).] 

 Maina Gistel, Naturg. Thierreich, p. ix, 1848. (Type, Sparus choerorhynchus 



Schneider. Maina Gistel proposed to replace Lethrinus Cuvier, regarded 



preoccupied by Leihrus Scopoli, 1777, in Coleoptera.) 

 Lethrinella Fowler, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, ser. 2, vol. 12, p. 529, 



1904. (Type, Sparus miniatus Schneider, orthotypic.) 

 Lethrinichthys Jordan and Thompson, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 41, p. 558, 



1912. (Type, Lethrinus nematacanthus Bleeker, orthotypic.) 



Body oblong, compressed. Head large. Snout moderate to long 

 and pointed. Maxillary concealed. Preorbital deep. Palate tooth- 

 less. Scales rather large, finely ctenoid. Cheeks and upper surface 

 of head scaleless. Tubes in lateral line simple. Dorsal spines 10, 

 rays 8. Anal spines 3, rays 8. 



A large genus with more or less homogeneous species, many imper- 

 fectly described, and this fact added to the subtle differential char- 

 acters often renders them difficult of determination. Variation with 

 age is often extensive, the lateral conic teeth of the young becoming 

 large or molarlike with age. 



