156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 99 



equidistant between pelvic insertion and midcaudal fin base; pelvic 

 fins reaching halfway to anus, the first soft ray ending in a short 

 filament; preopercle with eight or nine short spines, the lowest one 

 strongest but not hooked downward; caudal peduncle least depth 

 2}i in its length; tips of pectoral fins reaching a trifle past anus; teeth in 

 jaws in bands, the outer row of upper jaw a little enlarged ; pseudobran- 

 chiae well developed; gill rakers short, not quite so long as pupil 

 diameter; scales strongly ctenoid; lateral line curved over pectoral fin, 

 then running a straight course on caudal peduncle along its midaxis; 

 fourth scale row below lateral line, anteriorly, the first one extending 

 to base of caudal fin; first dorsal spine rudimentary, second 2.5 in 

 third, the latter nearly as long as the fourth; second and eighth to 

 eleventh and the next spine heavier than the third to seventh spines 

 of dorsal fin ; fourth or longest dorsal spine about equal to postorbital 

 length of head; distal margin of spiny dorsal fin truncate or a very 

 little concave, that of soft dorsal probably a trifle rounded (the tips 

 of the soft rays are lacking and this cannot be determined accurately) ; 

 middle rays of caudal fin longest, edges of lobes more or less truncate 

 to rounded (double truncate) ; distal margins of anal and pelvic fins a 

 little rounded; pectoral fins somewhat pointed, the fourth branched 

 ray from above longest. 



Color. — In alcohol the upper sides and back are grayish brown, 

 white below; dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins dusky, more intensely 

 pigmented distally; soft dorsal and caudal fins dusky; pectoral fin 

 darker than other fins except tip of spiny dorsal; lower jaw and upper 

 lip white; peritoneum white. In the smaller paratypes the dusky 

 upper sides are broken up with several pale blotches, which appear to 

 have a small cyst at their centers. 



Genus STELLIFER Oken 



Stell 



ifer Oken, Isis, 1817, p. 1182. (Genotype, Bodianus stelhfer Bloch.) (Ref. 1 

 copied.) 



STELLIFEB RASTRIFER (Jordan) 



Stelliferus rastrifer Jordan, in Jordan and Eigenmann, Rep. U. S. Fish Comm. 

 for 1886, vol. 14, pp. 391, 393, 1889 (coast of Brazil). 



U. S. N. M. No. 128257, 3 specimens, 16.5 to 72.5 mm., Jacuque Point, U. S. S. 

 Niagara, January 26, 1925. 



U.S.N.M. No. 128258, 8 specimens, 38 to 123 mm., Point Macolla, U. S. S. 

 Niagara, April 19, 1925. 



The following counts were made: Dorsal rays XI-1, 22 in 4 specimens, 

 XI-I, 23 in one, XI-I, 24 in two, XII-I, 21 in two, XII-I, 22 in one; 

 anal rays II, 8 in 8 specimens; gill rakers on first gill arch were 19+1 

 + 28 and 20 + 1 + 30, and in two other counts on lower part of 

 first gill arch there were 28 and 30 gill rakers; pectoral fin rays in 



