118 BULLETIN 214, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Members of this species, known only from large adults, may be 

 recognized by the possession of numerous small canine teeth variously 

 placed externally on the greenish dental plate of upper jaw, usually 

 some of them at median suture and more or less interlocking; a black 

 or dark brown saddleHke spot at base of dorsal half of pectoral fin; 

 middle part of body may be paler than other parts; distal % of pec- 

 toral fin white or pale, basal % brownish; a lunate white area distally 

 on caudal fin, may be faded in preserved specimens; under side of 

 head, especially chin, may be brown barred. The interorbital space 

 is convex; anterior nasal tentacle palmate, with multifid cirri; mem- 

 braneous tip of dorsal fin spines with a few cirri, 



Longley (in Longley and Hildebrand, 1941, p. 212) says its swim- 

 ming color phase is faded green, but as often as it descends to the 

 bottom and rests, it assumes a mottled pattern of brown and verdigris, 

 with bands showing under its chin. 



This species is scarce in collections and the young of it have not 

 yet been found or, if found, have not been recognized. The 8 speci- 

 mens in the National collection are from the following localities: Tor- 

 tugas Island, Florida; Haiti; Colon, Panama; Dominica; and West 

 Indies. Also in the collection are 2 specimens, 73 and 141 mm., 

 USNM 104298, from Brazil, the larger of which I think belongs to 

 this species, but the smaller one may not. In addition, Dr. Bohlke 

 loaned one specimen from the Bahamas. 



Sparisoma rubripinnis (Cuvier and Valenciennes) 



Plate 23c, d 



Scarus nibripinnis Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des poissons, vol. 

 14, p. 199, 1839 (type locality: Santa Domingo). 



Scarus virens Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des poissons, vol. 14, 

 p. 203, 1839 (type locality: Puerto Rico, Martinique). 



Scarus circumnotatus Poey, Memorias . . . , vol. 2, p. 423, 1861 (type locality: 

 Cuba). 



Scarus chloris (not of Bloch and Schneider) Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire 

 naturelle des poissons, vol. 14, p. 204, 1839 (Martinique; 2 specimens exam- 

 ined in Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris, Cat. No. 1768, standard length 70 and 

 105 mm.). 



Scarus truncatus Poey, Repertorio . . . , vol. 2, p. 339, 1868 (type locality: Cuba). 



Scarus eviarginatus Poey, Repertorio . . . , vol. 2, p. 340, 1868 (type locality: 

 Cuba). 



Sparisoma pachycephalum Longley in Longley and Hildebrand, Pap. Tortugas 

 Lab. Carnegie Inst. Washington, vol. 34, p. 215, 1941 (type locality: Tor- 

 tugas, Florida; holotype USNM 117097). 



This is the species that Meek and Hildebrand (Marine Fishes of 

 Panama, pt. 3, p. 758, 1928) called Sparisoma Jiavescens. From my 

 study of Bloch and Schneider (Systema Ichthyologiae . . . , p. 290, 



