170 



BULLETIN 180, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Table 16. — Counts made on certain species of scorpaenids from the Plioenix and 

 Samoan Islands — Continued 



3&. [Color in alcohol.] Caudal peduncle with vertical bars ; head and body 

 covered with numerous narrow alternating dark brown or black and 

 white bars; above eye a long dermal flap; both rays and membi-anes 

 of pelvic fins blackish; upper pectoral rays blackish, elongate and 

 threadlike, extending to or past tip of caudal fin; dorsal rays XIII, 

 11 or 12; anal III, 7; pectoral 14 or 15; gill rakers about 5+1+11; 



scale rows about 102 to 109 Pterois volitans (Linnaeus) 



26, Upper pectoral rays branched, shorter than middle rays, about 1% longer 

 than head; head with four or five brown bars and seven or eight 

 more on body, interspaces pale ; dorsal rays about XIII, 10 ; anal III, G ; 

 pectoral about 17; gill rakers 5+1+10; scales about 52. 



Dendrocliirus brachypterus (Cuvier) 



Ih. Dorsal spines stiff and strong, usually shorter than head ; pectoral rays 



not elongate and threadlike ; usually not longer than head. 



4a. Body covered with ctenoid scales. 



5o. Dorsal spines XIII, one posttemporal spine; preorbital spines weak, 



mostly represented by bony projections where spines usually occur ; 



no pit below eye; gill rakers 5 or 6+1+6 or 7. 



6a. Dorsal spines much longer than diameter of eye ; no scales extending 



upon soft rays of dorsal and anal fin ; dorsal rays XIII, 8, rarely 9 ; 



anal III, 5; scales 40 to 43; pectoral with 1<S or 19 rays, lower 10 



or 11 rays simple; coronal ridge absent; suborbital with three or 



four spines; other pairs of cranial spines present are — nasal, pre- 



ocular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic, two sphenotics, pterotic, 



one posttemporal, three preoporcular, parietal, nuchal, humeral ; 



preorbital with one blunt spine and two weak projections ; usually 



a large blackish opercular blotch, and body crossed with about four 



brownish to black bars, fins and paler interspaces speckled and 



blotched with brown, underside of head plain brownish ; cirri occur 



on preorbital, on ocular spines, on dorsal part of eye, on operculum, 



and a few along anterior part of lateral line; second anal spine 



longest and strongest, contained 1.5 to 2 times in head. (After 



measuring the length of the anal spines of most of the fishes listed 



in this report, I am convinced that the length of the anal spine is 



highly variable and if tliat is the only difference between S. scaler 



