FISHES OF THE PHOENIX AND SAMOAN ISLu\NDS 257 



(20.8) ; distance from posterior base of anal fin to midbase of caudal 

 fin 7.8 (8.2); least depth of caudal peduncle 2.9 (3.1); length of 

 longest ray of pectoral fin 12.1 (12.4) ; length of longest ray of pelvic 

 fin 11.8 (13.3) ; length of longest (middle) ray of caudal fin 15.7 



(18.9) ; postorbital length of head 7.9 (8.0) ; interorbital space 9.0 

 (10.1) ; distance from posterior edge of disk to origin of soft dorsal 

 fin 30.7 (30.5) ; length of disk 20.4 (23.4) ; greatest width of disk 

 10.4 (12.0) ; distance from tip of lower jaw to front of eye 10.4 

 (9.7) ; tip of lower jaw to rear edge of the maxilliary 9.3 (8.6) ; the 

 following counts were made respectively. Number of laminae in 

 disk 10 (10) ; dorsal rays 38 (36) ; anal rays 38 (37) ; pectoral 20 

 (20) ; gill rakers on first gill arch 1 + 1 + 16 '(1 + 1 + 15). 



The teeth at front of upper jaw consist of a few short canines 

 hooked inward, and along the outer sides of jaw is a row of small, 

 sharp, conical teeth curved outward inside of which is an inner row, 

 these two rows becoming one row posteriorly; the strongly project- 

 ing lower jaw has several canines on its projecting tip with two or 

 three irregular rows of small, sharp teeth posteriorly; there are 

 similar sharp teeth on the vomer, palatines, and tongue. 



Color not well preserved in the types, but probably the same as in 

 P. lineatus; the dorsal and anal margins of caudal fin are pale with 

 the midaxis black ; body blackish ; pectoral fins pale ; pelvic fins black- 

 ish, their outer margin pale; a pair of white lines along sides of 

 body on paratype but absent on holotype. 



Remarks. — This new species from the Pacific Ocean differs from 

 P. lineatus (Menzies) chiefly in having 36 to 38 dorsal, 37 or 38 anal 

 rays in contrast to 31 to 34 dorsal, 31 to 34 anal rays, and 15 or 16 

 gill rakers on the lower limb of the gill arch instead of 13 or 14. 

 In the Atlantic Ocean my counts are : Dorsal 30 to 33 ; anal 29 to 33, 

 with two specimens having 35 and 36 dorsal and both have 35 ansil 

 rays. Certain measurements were made on five specimens of P. 

 Uneatiis, and for comparison these along with similar ones for the 

 new species are presented in table 29, It will be noted that two 

 specimens from the Atlantic and the two from the Pacific have more 

 rays in the dorsal and anal fins than is to be expected in the frequency 

 (table 30). The lack of material makes it impossible to determine 

 the variability in the number of fin rays but these data indicate 

 two forms in each ocean, those in the Pacific having a ray or two 

 more in each fin than those in the Atlantic. In view of these facts 

 it seemed best to name the form with the more numerous fin rays. 



