NEW PHILIPPINE FISHES FOWLER 63 



OSORIOIA, new subgenus 



Type. — Scorpaena hemilepidota^ new species. 



Body elongately ovoid, well compressed, back little elevated. Head 

 lar<^e, compressed. Snout broad, rather olitiise. Eye moderate, 

 reaches upper profile and nearly before middle in head length. 

 Maxillary reaches below eye, well expanded behind. Mouth large, 

 lower jaw slightly protruded. Bands of teeth in jaws, and on vomer 

 and palatines. Interorbital deeply concave, with median channel. 

 Slight quadrate depression at occiput. Gill opening large, mem- 

 branes only slightly united in front. Gill rakers few, rather thick 

 and blunt. Armature of head strong. Scales rather large, ctenoid. 

 Head, breast, chest, prepectoral region and front of belly naked. 

 Lateral line complete, high at first, axial along side of body; tubes 

 distinct. Few rather short skinny flaps on head. Dorsal continuous, 

 soft fin smaller and little higher than spinous. Anal small, second 

 spine longest, though third but little shorter and first slightly more 

 than second. Pectoral with broad base, fin rather short. Ventral 

 inserted opposite pectoral origin, fin large. 



Differs from subgenus Scorpaena in its naked head, shoulder 

 girdle, breast, and front of belly. 



(Named for Dr. Balthazar Osorio, in commemoration of his many 

 important contributions to African ichthyology.) 



SCORPAENA HEMILEPIDOTA, new species 



Figure 26 



Depth 2%; head 21/8, width 2. Snout ?>% in head from snout 

 tip; eye 6, 1% in snout, 1 in interorbital; orbit 4% in head from 

 snout tip, 114 in snout, little greater than interorbital; maxillary 

 reaches % in eye, expansion 1% in eye, length 2 in head from 

 snout tip; teeth in villiform bands in jaws, where widest, and narrow 

 on vomer and palatines; interorbital 6% in head from snout tip. 

 Gill rakers 6 + 13, of which 5 are above and below rudimentary 

 tubercles; others robust and obtuse compressed rods, I14 "^ gill 

 filaments, which 1% in eye. 



Pair of nuchal spines; pair of antero-supraorbital and 2 pairs of 

 postero-supraorbital spines, with little closer pair of coronals pos- 

 teriorly, followed by pair of occipital and nuchal spines; cluster of 

 3 short, small, supero-postocular spines and finally large suprascapu- 

 lar spine ; tympanic spine above last postocular smaller ; 2 preorbital 

 spines, posterior larger and directed downward ; suborbital stay with 

 3 spines ; 5 preopercular spines, upper largest and with small prebasal 

 spine; pair of divergent opercular spines, opposite one another; 

 strong humeral spine pointing obliquely up and back. 



36541—38 3 



