108 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETEST 2 02 Vol. 3 



Depth of body 2.0; length of head 2.7; both in standard length. 

 Snout 1.3; diameter of eye 5.4; postorbital part of head 5.3; least 

 depth of caudal peduncle 3.8; length of pectoral fin 3.2; length of 

 longest soft dorsal ray 2.7; length of soft dorsal base 1.2; length of 

 longest anal ray 3.3; length of anal base 1.3; length of caudal fin 1.7; 

 interorbital width 3.5; all in length of head. Angle of snout profile 

 with lengthwise axis of body 35 degrees, snout profile straight. 



Shallow wedge-shaped groove present before eye and below nostril; 

 interorbital slightly rounded; third dorsal spine 3.0 in first dorsal 

 spine; caudal peduncle with 6 rows of small antrorse spines; tuber- 

 culated scale rows extending forward on body to below second 

 dorsal spine; cheek scales not enlarged, smaller than scales of body. 



Color in alcohol. — Head and body pale yellowish white, lips pale, 

 a straight, narrow white line extending from corner of mouth below 

 lower edge of pectoral base, fading on this specimen before reaching 

 anal fin origin; greyish wedge-shaped spot from spiny dorsal through 

 posterior part of eye to lower edge of pectoral base; a second stripe 

 from below middle of spiny dorsal across enlarged scales behind op- 

 ercular opening; pubic spine and ventral flap blackish with faint 

 white basal line. Spiny dorsal membranes dusky between first and 

 second spines; soft dorsal and anal fins pale, their scaly basal sheath 

 light greyish; caudal fin dark greyish basally, pale distally; pectoral 

 fin pale. 



Genus BALISTOIDES Fraser-Brunner 



Balistoides Fraser-Brunner, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 10, vol. 15, p. 662, 

 1935 (type species, Balistes viridescens Bloch and Schneider). 



BALISTOIDES NIGER (Bonnaterre) 



Plate 144,D 



Balistes niger Bonnaterre, in Encyclop^die methodique, tableau encyclopedique 



et methodique des trois regnes de la nature . . ., Ichthyologiae, p. 19, pi. 



85, fig. 352, 1788 (type locality, Isle de France or Mauritius). 

 Balistes conspicillum Bloch and Schneider, Systema ichthyologiae . . ., p. 



474, 1801. 

 Balistes niger Kendall and Goldsborough, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 26, 



no. 7, p. 333, 1911. 



SPECIMEN STUDIED 



Jaluit Atoll: Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, 1900, Albatross, 1 specimen, 220 mm. 



Description. — Dorsal fin rays III-ii,25; anal rays i,22; pectoral rays 

 i,13; branched caudal rays 5-^5; gill rakers on fu'sb arch 37 (counting 

 all rudiments) ; scale rows 48; teeth in upper jaw 8, lower jaw 8. 



Depth of body 2.0; length of head 3.0; both in standard length. 

 Snout 1.4; diameter of eye 4.9; least depth of caudal peduncle 4.5; 

 length of pectoral fin 2.55; length of longest dorsal ray 3.15; length of 

 longest anal ray 3.3; length of middle caudal rays 2.0; interorbital 



