FISHES OF WEST COAST OF PEEU. 139 



trals extending to posterior border of vent, 1.76 in head ; first dorsal 

 spine 1.55 in second, second 1.75 in third which is the longest, 1.71 

 in head; eleventh dorsal spine short, 1.23 in twelfth which is 3.75 

 in head; soft dorsal 2.4; second anal spine strong, longer than 

 third, 2 in head ; D. XII, 10 ; A. Ill, 6 ; scales ctenoid, easily detached 

 (nearly all gone in specimen), 26 pores in lateral line; scales on 

 cheeks, opercles, suborbital and nape, these replaced anteriorly on 

 snout, interorbital and preorbital by small rudimentary scales or 

 prickles; bands of villiform teeth on jaws, vomer and palatines; 

 premaxillaries widely separated; symphyseal knob of upper jaw 

 very prominent. 



Head comparatively smooth; spines compressed, knife-like; nasal 

 spines small; preocular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic, and oc- 

 cipital spines moderate ; paroccipital ridge containing a single small 

 spine immediately behind eye and another somewhat larger one at 

 its posterior extremity; suborbital ridge strong, with four sharp 

 spines ; margin of preorbital with two strong diverging spines ; upper 

 spine of preopercle very strong, curved outward, slightly below sub- 

 orbital ridge and with a small spine at its base; three other pre- 

 opercular spines below this, the middle one the stronger; no pit on 

 occiput or below front of eye; no transverse ridge at end of inter- 

 orbital space ; opercle with two diverging spines. Some of the spines 

 on crown of head near filaments; nostrils small, the anterior the 

 smaller, with a small tube and a long fringed dermal flap. 



Color in alcohol, light yellow, possibly red in life ; fins yellowish, 

 tinged with pink; soft dorsal and caudal rays spotted with black; 

 tips of caudal and ventrals blackish ; a few blackish spots in center 

 of pectoral; traces of blackish areas on base of spinous and soft 

 dorsal, these probably continued onto body, the loss of the scales 

 making it impossible to determine their extent. 



Pontinus strigatuB Heller and Snodgrass from Galapagos Islands 

 is closely related to this species. 



Family AGRIOPODIDAE. 

 Genus AGRIOPUS ^ Cuvier and Valenciennes. 



166. AGRIOPUS PERUVIANUS Cuvier and Valenciennea. 



Agriopus peruvianus Cxtvieb and Valenciennes, Hist Nat. Poiss., vol. 4, 

 1829, p. 286 (389) ; San Lorenzo Island near Lima. — Guichenot in Gay. 

 Hist. Chile, Zool., vol. 2, 1848, p. 181, I, Atlas, Zool. Ictiol., pi. 2bis, 

 fig. 1, 1854.— GiJNTHEK, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., vol. 2, 1860, p. 138.— 

 Steindachnee, Fauna Chilensis, 1898, p. 297. — Delfin, Cat. Peces de 

 Chile, 1901, p. 80. 



Agriopxis peruanus Abbott, Marine Fishes of Peru, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila., 1899, p. 361. 



1 Because of the uncertainty regarding the author of the genus Congiopodus (see 

 Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871, p. 659), we have retained the generic name 

 Agriopus. 



