1895. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 201 



III. 



This new species lias been in tlie colleetion of the United States 

 IS^ational .^luseiun for many years, the single si>ecinien being recorded 

 as collected by Lieutenant Gibbon in Bolivia. The specimen is about 

 5i inches long aud is in good preservation, except the vertical tins, 

 which are broken. The color is so striking that I experienced doubt 

 whether it was real, but I know of no agency which would produce 

 such a hue, and other si^ecimens collected bj' the same officer offer 

 nothing peculiar in such respects. 



PSECTROGASTER AURATUS, new species. 



Depth 1 by I'f ; head !:;>;' D. 12;^' A. 10; P. 15; Y. 0. 



Body elongate and saluiouiform, with the dorsal contour not angulate 

 but convex from axilla of dorsal to nape, and the ventral contour regu- 

 larly arched from axilla of anal to chin; preventral region transversely 

 convex and postventral keel well defined. Head oblong, with the pro- 

 file nearly straight and declivous and nearly flat at middle. Eye with 

 narrow anterior and posterior adipose lids, with its vertical diameter 

 less than snout and half the interorbital area. Scales all deeply pecti- 

 nate, and slightly reflected from the body, largest on the sides of the 

 abdomen, nnich smaller on the back and nape, and extending on the 

 base of caudal. JDorsal at its first ray midway between tip of snout 

 and base of caudal fulcra. Adipose narrow and rather long. Anal 

 moderate, emarginate. (Jaudal with extended lobes nearly or quite 

 three times longer than entire median rays and with the inner margins 

 straight or concave. Pectorals nearly reaching to ventrals. Ventrals 

 reaching about two-thirds the way to anal and under first half of dorsal, 

 with root of first ray as near base of caudal as front of eye. Color 

 golden, with rufous suffusion on back and without sj^ots. 



P. auratus appears to be the most distinct species of the genus. The 

 coarsely i)ectinated ui)lifted scales^ and the golden color remind one 

 somewhat of a holocentrid. 



IT. 



Relations of the toothless Curimatines. — A review of the several 

 genera of edentulous Curimatines leads me to believe that they have 

 diverged from a common stock most like Gurimata but with branchial 

 rakers, and their degrees of divergence may be expressed in the fol- 

 lowing manner: 



' The length is exclusive of candal fin. 



-The rucliinentary first dorsal and anal rays are inclndod. 



^ Mud had been retained on the inner field of some of these scales in the specimen 

 preserved. 



