FAMILY ALUTERIDAE — WOODS 87 



narrow transverse blackish lines crossing middle and distal third of 

 fin; dorsal spine dark greyish brown, its membrane grey. 



Remarks. — This subspecies differs from P. m. melanocephalus Bleeker 

 (pi. 132, C) of the East Indies chiefly in coloration. P. m. marshal- 

 lensis lacks the oblong blackish spot enclosing branchial cleft, present 

 in all but one of our specimens of P. m. melanocephalus including 6 

 specimens from Samoa and 29 from the Philippines and Dutch East 

 Indies. Only one specimen from the Marshall Islands has a faint 

 black branchial spot and this on one side only. None of the examples 

 from the western Pacific or Samoa have the broad black submarginal 

 caudal band of P. m. marshallensis. No significant differences in 

 counts were noted (see table 129). 



The color differences that separate these two subspecies are fairly 

 constant with only 2 specimens out of 78 overlapping in the color of 

 the branchial cleft and none in the presence of the black submarginal 

 caudal band. The two forms would be considered separate species 

 were it not for four specimens from Johnston Island that are somewhat 

 intermediate in color pattern since the dark submarginal caudal fin 

 crossband of the Johnston Island examples is much like that of P. m. 

 melanocephalus. The general body color of the Johnston Island 

 examples is much darker than either of the other two subspecies. 



Named marshallensis for the Marshall Islands. 



PERVAGOR MELANOCEPHALUS JOHNSTONENSIS, new subspecies 



Figure 153 



Pervagor melanocephalus (not Bleeker) Fowler and Ball, Bernice P. Bishop 

 Mus. BuU. 26, p. 30, 1925 (Johnston Island). 



Holotype. — USNM 140670, Johnston Island, reef along northern 

 side of atoll, August 28-29, S-42-569, Schultz, 99 mm. 



Paratype. — USNM 140671, same data as holotype, 3 specimens, 

 72 to 96 mm. 



Description. — Counts or proportions for type are given first, range of 

 variation noted for paratypes are in parentheses. Dorsal fin rays 

 1,34(1,31 or 32) ; anal fin rays 30 (28 or 29) ; pectoral rays 13(12 or 13) ; 

 branched caudal rays 5+5(5+5); teeth 8(8) upper, 0(6) lower jaw. 



Depth of body from origin of dorsal to origin of anal 2.3 (2.2 to 2.3); 

 length of head 3.13(2.8 to 3.1); both in standard length. Snout 1.35(1.3 

 to 1.4); diameter of eye 4.1(3.7 to 4.1); interorbital width 3.2(3.0 to 

 3.3); length of gill opening 4.1(4.3 to 6.3); postorbital part of head 

 (hind margin of eye to upper edge of gill opening) 5.45(4.9 to 5.6); 

 least depth of caudal peduncle 1.88(1.9 to 2.1); length of pectoral fin 

 2.8(2.4 to 2.6); length of longest dorsal ray 2.77(2.6 to 2.7); length 

 of longest anal ray 2.9(2.6 to 2.9); length of middle caudal rays 



