46 BULLETIN 10 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



moderate or large. Mouth terminal, oblique, 'scarcely protractile. 

 Small teeth in jaws and on palate. Gill opening wide, membrane 

 free and separated from isthmus. Gill rakers spinulose. Gills 4, 

 slit after fourth. Pseudobranchiae present. Air bladder and py- 

 loric coeca usually present (absent in Lejytobrmna) . Stomach caecal. 

 Intestine convoluted. Vertebrae 24, of which 14 caudal. Scales 

 ctenoid or cycloid, moderate or small. Head nearly entirely cov- 

 ered with scales. Mucous 'system of head well developed. Lateral 

 line complete, extends on caudal to ends of median rays; tubes sim- 

 ple, not reaching scale borders. Dorsal small, falciform, much 

 shorter than anal and not scaly; spines slender, adnate and gradu- 

 ated; no procumbent dorsal spine. Anal with several 'short gradu- 

 ated spines. Caudal emarginate, lobes pointed and base scaly. Pec- 

 toral asymmetrical, placed below middle in body depth. Ventral 

 inserted below pectoral, with spine and 5 rays, also axillary pointed 

 flap present. 



Small homogeneous shore fishes, known chiefly by their small 

 compressed bodies with a small dorsal fin in contrast to the long, 

 low anal. Widely distributed in the tropical Indo-Pacific and West 

 Atlantic. 



ANALYSIS OF GBNEKA 



o\ Pempherinae. Eye large, without adipose lid ; maxillary greatly expanded 



behind ; pterygoids and tongue smooth ; preorbital entire ; gill rakers long, 



numerous ; lateral line with short, wide tubes ; dorsal fin premedian ; anal 



low, begins below or behind dorsal. 



6\ Body elongate or only slightly ovate ; teeth mostly uniserial in jaws ; pre- 



opercle entire; anal naked, fin rays less than 30 Parapriacanthus. 



6^ Body ovate, deeper ; teeth in jaws pluriserial ; preopercle with 1 to 3 strong 



spines ; anal scaly, soft rays over 30 Pempheris. 



a'. Leptobkaminae. Eye small, with adipose lid; maxillary spatulate, feebly 

 expanded in front ; pterygoids and tongue grooved ; preorbital serrulate ; 

 gill rakers few, short; lateral line with long narrow tubes; dorsal post- 

 median; anal falciform, begins well before dorsal Leptobrama. 



Genus PARAPRIACANTHUS Steindachner 



Parapriacmithus STBiNDACHNEai, Sitz. Ber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, vol. 61, 1870, 



p. 623. Type Parapriacanthus ransonneti Steindachner, monotypic. 

 Pempherichthys Klunzingeb, Verb. zool. bot. Ges. Wien, vol. 21, 1871, p. 470. 



Type Pempherichthys giintheri Klunzingex, monotypic. 

 Parapempheris Von Bondb, Fisher, Mar. Biol. Surv. South Africa, Spec. Rep., 



No. 3, 1922 (1924), p. 11. Type Parapempheris argent eus Von Bondb. 



monotypic. 



Body elongate, moderately deep, ovate, compressed. Head rather 

 long, somewhat pointed. Eye large. Teeth uniserial in jaws. Pre- 

 opercle smooth. Opercle without spine. Scales 60 to 80 in lateral 



