200 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



3.5 in head; snout fairly blunt, 2.8 to 3.4; eye 3.8 to 4.6; interorbital 

 3.3 to 4.3; preorbital much narrower than eye, even in the largest 

 specimen at hand; mouth moderate, terminal, nearly horizontal; 

 maxillary not covered by upper lip, reaching to or somewhat beyond 

 anterior margin of eye, 2.85 to 3.2 in head; teeth in a band anteriorly, 

 reduced to a single series posteriorly in each jaw, the last tooth in 

 upper jaw notably enlarged, usually pointed, occasional molarial, man}'' 

 of the teeth blunt in some specimens, nearly all pointed in others; 

 vertical margin of preopercle sharply serrate; gill rakers at angle 

 scarcely as long as pupil, 12 to 15 on lower and 6 to 10 on upper limb 

 of first arch; lateral line complete, scarcely arched; scales small, firm, 

 ctenoid, becoming smooth on chest, extending forward to posterior 

 part of interorbital, present on cheek and opercle, covering most of 

 caudal fin, also extending slightly on bases of ventral and pectoral, 

 but not on dorsal or anal; dorsal fin long, continuous, the spines 

 sharp, slender, increasing gradually in length from the third to the 

 last one, the longest one 2.7 to 3.1 in head; soft part of fin rather 

 higher, the raj^s increasing gradually in length, the third from end of 

 fin usually somewhat produced, often reaching base of caudal; caudal 

 deeply lunate in the larger specimens, less so in a small one, the lobes 

 pointed, the upper one the longer; anal very similar to soft part of 

 dorsal, its base 2.35 to 2.5 in length; ventral inserted under base of 

 pectoral, pointed, 1.6 to 1.8 in head; pectoral moderate, pointed, the 

 seventh or eighth ray (counting downward) longest, 1.2 to 1.25 in head 

 4.1 to 4.5 in length. 



Color uniform, rather dark brown above to pale grayish brown 

 underneath; dorsal and caudal fins brown; other fins pale in a small 

 specimen, more or less dusky in the larger ones; axil of pectoral and 

 inner surface of this fin largely dark. 



The Mission obtained two specimens, one in Chimbote Bay and the 

 other one at Pachacamac Island. There are at hand also two speci- 

 mens from Callao (U.S.N.M. No. 53476) collected by P. O. Simons 

 and one from Callao (U.S.N.M. No. 77616) taken by R. E. Coker. 

 The specimens listed, which range from 170 to 315 mm. (137 to 256 

 mm. to base of caudal) in length, form the basis for the foregoing 

 description. These specimens were compared with two others from 

 the Galdpagos Islands, and eight from off the coast of California. 



The wide variation in the number of scales in the lateral series, 

 which ranges from 116 to 128 (116 once, 118 once, 123 once, 125 once, 

 127 twice, and 128 once) in the southern material (including Galapagos 

 Islands specimens), and from 125 to 134 (125 once, 127 once, 128 once, 

 129 once, 130 twice, 133 once, and 134 once) in the northern speci- 

 mens, is striking. As the scales are in rather regular series, the enu- 

 merations are fairly accurate. Accordingly, the specimens with the 

 rather large scales were carefully compared with those having very 



