404 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. ii4 



Color in alcohol light brown, the upper fifth abruptly dark brown; 

 a large dark brown blotch encircling posterior half of eye; a dark spot 

 on tip of snout and lower lip; fins pale except basal part of dorsal fin 

 which is dark brown. 



Color in life of a specimen collected by the author at Caroline 

 Atoll (10°S.,150°W.): body brilHant red except upper fourth to fifth 

 which is dark brown, the demarcation of red and brown not as abrupt 

 as dark and light brown of preserved specimens; head red like body 

 except dorsally on tip of snout, front of lower lip, and a large area 

 adjacent to posterior edge of eye which are dark brown; all fins bright 

 red except dorsal, the spinous portion of which is dark brown up to 

 tips of membranes which are red-orange; soft portion of dorsal fin 

 dark brown on basal third, red-orange on outer two-thirds. 



Remarks. — ^The type of armatus was not located. Gilbert P. 

 Whitley has written that it is not in the Australian Museum. There 

 is no record of it at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in 

 Paris. 



The minute scales on the cheek, lack of teeth on palatines, height a 

 little over 2% in total length, preopercle armed with a series of stout 

 spines, 10 dorsal spines of about equal length except the first which 

 is much shorter, 13 dorsal rays, 6 simple pectoral rays, 43 lateral-line 

 scales, 16 rows of scales in vertical series, and light brownish color 

 with the back darker, all mentioned in the original description by 

 Castelnau, are diagnostic for the hawkfish subsequently named 

 melanotus by Giinther (1874). 



N. armatus is known from northeast Australia, Society Islands, 

 Wake Island, Phoenix Islands and Caroline Atoll. Harry (1953, p. 

 89) recorded it from Raroia, Tuamotu Archipelago as an undeter- 

 mined genus and species. Fowler (1931) (after Pohl) listed it from 

 Mortlock (Caroline Islands) by name only. 



A small species, the largest specimen examined measures 75 mm. 

 in standard length. 



Genus Paracirrhites Bleeker 



Paracirrhites Bleeker, 1875 Verh. Akad. Wettensch., Amsterdam, vol. 15 (1874), 

 pp. 2, 5. (Type species, Grammistes forsteri Schneider, by monotypy). 



Gymnocirrhites Smith, 1951, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 12, vol. 4, pp. 627, 638. 

 (Type species, Cirrhites arcatus Cuvier, by original designation). 



Diagnosis. — Upper 1 or 2 and lower 7 (rarely 6) pectoral rays un- 

 branched; dorsal soft rays 11; palatine teeth absent; upper margin of 

 preopercle very finely serrate or smooth; serration on suprascapula 

 reduced (well-developed in other genera except for Isocirrhitus and 



