BRANNER-AGASSIZ EXPEDITION TO BRAZIL 1 77 



Prickles cover the belly from the chin back to the anal fin and up 

 on the sides as far as the base of the pectoral fins. They cover also 

 the interorbital area and extend back as far as the origin of the dorsal 

 fin, and send downward under the terminal portion of the pectoral fin 

 a band connecting the prickly areas of the back and the belly. Along 

 the line separating the ventral prickles from the smooth area of the 

 sides is a series of conspicuous fleshy slips, all of which are white. 

 A few smaller, dark-colored slips are scattered over the back and sides. 

 Caudal peduncle and side of head without prickles. 



Belly and lower side of head and caudal peduncle white. Back 

 and sides thickly spotted with blackish, the two areas sharply dis- 

 tinguished along a lengthwise line running just below the pectoral 

 fin. The spots grow somewhat larger along the lower part of the 

 cheeks and the flanks, but none can be taken to represent the definite 

 line of spots present in S. spe77glcri. The upper part of the back has 

 its darker color broken up into polygonal areas by finely vermiculating 

 light lines ; these faintly-defined areas are still further indented or 

 broken up into very small spots by incursions of light lines. The 

 caudal is dusky at the base and on the terminal half, but has no well- 

 defined bars. Other fins are unmarked. 



73. Prionotus punctatus (Bloch). 



One specimen, 210 mm. long, from Pernambuco. 



It is perhaps as well to follow Cuvier's identification of this species 

 as the very doubtful Trigla punctata of Bloch, awaiting the discov- 

 ery of a West Indian species more nearly agreeing in color with 

 Bloch's figure. 



We have compared our specimen with the young individual from 

 Bahia reported on by Jordan,^ and find substantial agreement except 

 that in our adult the minute spine present in the young on the middle 

 of the cheek has been lost, and the groove behind the eye is still less 

 conspicuous. The latter is in fact no groove at all, merely a wider 

 interval between transverse lines of granulation. 



The series of very fine serrations on the lateral margin of the snout 

 terminates in a single stronger spine directed backward. A single 

 spine is present halfway between the latter and the middle of the 

 cheek. The center of radiation of the ridges on the cheek is without 

 spine, a sharp low ridge beginning at that point and continuing on to 

 the preopercular spine, which has a definite cusp at the base. The 

 preopercular spine extends to or slightly beyond the subopercular 

 margin. The nuchal ridge is obsolete on one side, very low on the 



' Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, 1S90, 328. 

 Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., August, 1900. 



