REVIEW OF THE PARROTFISHES 27 



has a straight or shghtly concave dorsal profile which bends abruptly 

 over the eyes; the snout is longer than the postorbital part of the 

 head; the coloration is uniform brown; young and halfgrown speci- 

 mens have several white scales on the sides; large adults have a fleshy 

 knob that develops on the forehead over the eyes. 



I have studied one lot from the Dutch East Indies and 7 lots from 

 the Philippines and vicinity. 



Chlorurus bicolor (RUppell) 



Plates 1,b; 8,a-c 



Scarus bicolor RUppell, Atlas zu der Reise im nordlichen Afrika . . . Fische des 



rothen Meers, p. 82, pi. 21, 1828 (type locality: Djedda). 

 Scarus ocellatus Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des posissons, vol. 14, 



p. 278, 1839 (type locality: Carolines). 

 Callyodon scriptus (Gronow) Gray, Catalogue of fish collected and described by 



L. T. Gronow, p. 85, 1854 (type locality: Indies). 

 Pseudoscarus bicolor Bleeker, Atlas ichthyologique . . . , vol. 1, p. 33, pi. 14, 1862 



(Celebes). 

 Scarus ophthalmistius Herre, Copeia, No. 1, p. 21, 1933 (type locality: Jolo, 



Philippine Islands). 

 Cetoscarus bicolor, J. L. B. Smith, Rhodes Univ. Ichthy. Bull. No. 1, p. 17, pi. 



44, c, D, E, 1956 (western Indian Ocean along East African coast to lat. 15° S.) 



This species is characteristically colored at all sizes. The young 

 have a dark ocellate spot at the front part of the dorsal fin and the 

 larger fishes have black spots on the lower scales of the body. The 

 median predorsal scales number 6 or 7; there are 3 rows of scales on 

 the cheek, with 4 to 8 scales in the ventral (third) row; and there are 

 usually ii,12 pectoral fin rays. 



The lips mostly cover the teeth, the angle between them varying 

 from 10 to 40 degrees; the inner lip of upper jaw joins the outer Hp 

 near the symphysis; canines are absent at the corner of the mouth in 

 all sizes studied; the caudal fin varies from rounded in the young to 

 truncate, with a strongly concave distal margin in the largest adult. 



In alcohol, the background coloration of juveniles is whitish or pale, 

 with a broad brownish bar on middle and rear % of head, snout and 

 jaws pale; this bar may fade in alcohol, leaving a blackish fine marking 

 its anterior and posterior edges; anteriorly the dark line extends in 

 front of eyes, thence just behind rear of mouth to underside of head; 

 the posterior dark line extends from just in front of the dorsal origin 

 downward along rear of head across pectoral base on second scale row 

 above base of pelvics; middle of spiny dorsal with a large black ocellate 

 spot. In halfgrown and adults the black bar on the head begins to 

 disappear at about 160 mm.; the black spots or bars begin to appear 

 on the anteroventral scales at a length of about 125 mm. The back- 

 ground coloration of adults is pale dorsally, darker ventrally, the 



396816—58 3 



