464 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Body fairly elongate; profile straight to slightly concave in front of 

 eyes; head moderately large; caudal peduncle very short, 2.2 to 2.9 in 

 head; snout (in front of lower eye) 4.1 to 4.9; eye 6.2 to 7.1 ; interorbital 

 narrow, flat, increasing greatly in width with age, 1.25 to 3.5 in eye; 

 mouth large, oblique, terminal or more usually with somewhat pro- 

 jecting lower jaw; maxillary almost as broad as eye in large specimens, 

 proportionately narrower in young, reaching nearly or quite below 

 posterior margin of eye, 2.1 to 2.4 in head; teeth sharply pointed, 

 largest anteriorly; mandible with a rather prominent knob at sym- 

 physis, and another posteriorly; gill rakers rather long and slender, 

 with small denticles along inner edge, those at angle about three- 

 fourths length of eye, 15 to 19 on lower and 6 or 7 on upper limb 

 of first arch; lateral line with a rather short arch, its chord 2.0 to 2.3 

 in head; scales small (difficult to enumerate accurately), strongly 

 ctenoid on ocular side, cycloid on blind side, accessory scales present, 

 especially numerous in large examples, small scales extending on rays 

 of unpaired fins, and on head to interorbital; first ray of dorsal over 

 or a little posterior to anterior rim of orbit; caudal slightly angulate 

 or double truncate in large examples, the middle rays longest, often 

 as long as head without snout; first ray of anal under or a little in 

 advance of base of pectoral; ventrals of about equal size, the one of 

 ocular side not on ventral ridge, 2.9 to 3.5 in head; pectorals more or 

 less rounded, the one on ocular side considerably the longer, 1.8 to 

 2.1, the one on blind side 2.4 to 2.9 in head. 



Color brown to gray, variously marked with dark and sometimes 

 with pale spots and blotches; often with a rather large ocellated spot 

 under distal part of pectoral, sometimes with several such spots; 

 occasionally with pale spots and specks all over body and on fins, 

 such spots often entirely wanting; fins generally rather lighter than 

 body, the unpaired ones usually spotted like the body; pectoral and 

 ventral of ocular side with small dark spots, those of pectoral often 

 arranged in cross rows. 



The Mission preserved 29 specimens, 165 to 255 mm. (133 to 216 

 mm. to base of caudal) long. These, together with some larger ones 

 from Peru, up to 390 mm. (315 mm. to base of caudal) long, in the 

 collection of the U. S. National Museum, form the basis for the fore- 

 going description. The specimens mostly were seined on sandy shores, 

 though some were taken with a trammel net, and one lot with an 

 otter trawl hauled at a depth of 10 to 15 fathoms. The species seems 

 to occur along the entire coast of Peru, the specimens at hand having 

 been collected at Lobos de Tierra Island, Isla Santa, Chimbote Bay, 

 Samanco Bay, Pachacamac Island, Chilca Bay, Point Ripio, La Lagun- 

 Ula, Independencia Bay, San Juan Bay, and Coles Point. R. E. Coker 

 obtained specimens at Callao and Mollendo, which also are before me. 

 I have also examined small specimens from Tome and Lota, Chile. 



