THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 



491 



disk moderately small, reaching little beyond tip of pectoral, shorter 

 than head, 3.4 to 4.2 in length; pectoral short, with convex margin, 

 2.1 to 2.6 in head; a thickened area above base of lower rays of pectoral 

 but not forming a flap with a free margin; a large membranous flap 

 behind base of pectoral, attached below to ventral disk. 



Color gray; back in some small specimens with dark cross blotches, 

 narrowest on median line; other specimens plain, or dotted or spotted 

 (as in the type and paratypes of hieroglyphica) ; a dark spot above base 

 of pectoral usually present, the distance between the spots of the 

 opposite sides fully as great as the space between the eyes; the markings 

 most distinct in the light colored specimens. 



Figure 93. — Arhaciosa pyrrhocincla (Cope). From the type of Arbaciosa hieroglyphica 

 Evermann and Radcliffe, 41 mm. long, Lobos de Afuera Island, Peru (U.S.N.M. No. 

 77561). (After Evermann and Radcliffe, 1917.) 



This species is represented by 11 specimens taken by the Mission, 

 1 in Lobos de Afuera Bay and 10 at La Lagunilla; by the type (U.S.N. 

 M. No. 77561) and 10 paratypes (U.S.N.M. No. 77565) of hieroglyph- 

 ica, taken at Lobos de Afuera by R. E. Coker; and by several small 

 specimens, also from Lobos de Afuera, collected by W. L. Schmitt. 

 The proportions and enumerations used in the description are based 

 on nine specimens (including the type and two paratypes of hieroglyph- 

 ica), 35 to 49 mm. (29 to 40 mm. to base of caudal) long. 



Range. — Coast of Peru. 



Genus SICYASES Miiller and Troschel, 1843 



Snout with a strongly convex anterior margin, formed by the pre- 

 maxillaries and lip; premaxillary groove broadly convex; each jaw 

 anteriorly with large incisors, with entire and nearly straight cutting 

 edges, followed laterally by several smaller pointed or blunt teeth; 

 opercle with a long strong spine; projectmg well beyond the mem- 

 branous margin above it; gill membranes united, with a free margin 

 extending across isthmus, attached to shoulder a little below level of 

 uppermost ray of pectoral; dorsal and anal moderately small, the 

 former with about 8 to 1 1 and the latter with about 6 to 9 rays (enu- 



