386 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Pseudoscarus goldiei Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, vol. 7, 



1882, p. 590. New Guinea. 

 Pseudoscarus platodoni Seale, Occas. Pap. Bishop Mus., vol. 1, No. 3, 



1900, p. 96. Agana, Guam. 



Depth 21^ to 23>g; head 2% to 2^, width 2^ to 2}4. Snout 

 23/^ to 3; eye 5 to 8, 1^ to 3 J^ in snout, 13^ to 2 J^ in interorbital; 

 mouth cleft 3 3^ to 5; lips half cover teeth; canines often 1 or 2 

 above posteriorly, less frequently 1 or none each side below, or all 

 may be absent; interorbital 3 to 3% in head, convex. Gill rakers 

 12 + 27, slender, short, flexible. 



Scales in lateral line 16 to 18 + 3 to 8 + 2; 2 scales above lateral 

 line, 6 below, 4 or 5 predorsal; 2 rows of cheek scales, none on 

 preopercle flange. Ccales with 30 to 49 basal radiating striae, im- 

 perfect apical 25 to 51; circuli fine. 



D. IX, 10, I, ninth spine 2% to 33^ in head, first ray 2}4 to 33^; 

 A. Ill, 9, I, third spine 33/g to 3%, first ray 2% to 33-4; caudal 1% to 

 1^, slightly emarginate to truncate, convex to double convex as 

 expanded; least depth of caudal peduncle 23^ to 2^; pectoral 1% 

 to 1^; ventral 1^ to 2. 



Dark brown to chocolate brown generally. Most all show dark 

 band along lower lip edge. Fins like trunk or vertical often darker 

 to dusky. Pectoral usually pale brownish or much paler than body 

 color. Iris brown. Teeth pale or light brownish. 



Widely distributed from East Africa and Mauritius to the East 

 Indies, Micronesia, the Marquesas Islands, and Tahiti. 



In our large series of examples we find some that approach while 

 others agree entirely with Pseudoscarus gymnognathus . All very 

 closely resemble Callyodon erythrodon and when stained or otherwise 

 discolored are indistinguishable from the typical specimens. Only 

 when two dark lines across the chin and the other across the end of 

 the snout are visible can P. gymnognathus be distinguished. In 

 general, such specimens are largely a little paler or lighter. The 

 average are more or less deep mars brown or wood brown, often 

 slightly clouded and lower surfaces scarcely paler. Many examples 

 have a distinct chocolate tinge. Fins brownish, often both dorsals 

 with median gray brown area longitudinally, fin edge with neutral 

 dusky line. Anals often grayish, with basal and marginal neutral- 

 dusky lines their whole length. Other fins uniform. 



Callyodon sordidus is also very similar, except for the presence of 

 the dark band on the lips. The lips in both are very narrow so that 

 the jaws are greatly exposed. The presence of posterior canines, 

 though occasional, is not a valid distinction. The dark chocolate 

 color of many examples is equally matched with undoubted specimens 

 of C. sordidus. Still we have left the present materials with C. 

 erythrodon, if only provisionally. The canines, when occasionally 



