PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 293 



are oue to three coiisi^icuous siiines on tbe siibopercle. Opercle with 

 two .diverging spines, above whicli are two suprascapnlar spines. 



Eye moderate, high up, 4 to 4i in head. Preorbital with the neck 

 very broad, with two bhmti.sh downward directed spines in front, its 

 narrowest i)ortion two-fifths tlie diameter of the eye. Suborbital stay 

 short and rather weak. Maxillary and preorbital with fine scales. 



Gill-rakers rather long and strong, compressed, toothed on the inner 

 margin, shorter than in atrovirens, the longest slightly clavate, about half 



the length of the eye; the number about — -, nearly ail of them free. 



Scales moderate, with few accessory smaller ones, in* 55 transverse 

 series. 



Dorsal spines very strong and high, about as in chlorostictus, higher 

 than in any other species; the first about half as long as the eye; the 

 fourth the highest, more than half the length of the head, and much 

 liigher than the soft rays. The twelfth spine is a little higher than the 

 first, and its membrane joins the thirteenth about half-way up. Mem- 

 brane of spinous dorsal rather more<1eeply incised than in other species. 

 Soft dorsal rather high, but lower than the spines. 



Anal spines much smaller than in rosaceiis, etc.; the second not longer 

 than the third, and not much stronger; about two-thirds as high as the 

 soft rays. Soft rays of anal hi<ih. Caudal truncate. Peiitoral shorter 

 than head, not reaching the vent ; its base rather broad. 



Ventrals moderate, not reaching vent. 



D. XIII, IG; A. Ill, C. 



Color rather bright and pale, yellowish red, becoming lighter below, 

 the reddish and yellowish forming large and irregular areas, sometimes 

 one shade in^edominating, sometimes the other. A pink cross-blotch on 

 the back at the base of the second and third dorsal spines. Upper parts 

 of the head mostly pink, with broad olive- shades running backward, 

 one on the lower lip, one on the maxillary, one from preorbital region 

 downward, one from the eye backward and downward across the clieeks, 

 and another across the opercular spines. Fins all pinkish red ; the mem- 

 branes olive. Top of head usually with alternating cross-shades of 

 pinkish and yellowish. In some specimens the yellowish shades are re- 

 placed by light olive. Others are quite red; others still are quite 

 brownish. The spots on the back show a tendency to the rosy spots 

 found in constcUatus and rosaccus. 



This species was first known to us from two specimens taken on a 

 reef in Santa Barbara Channel. A single example was afterwards 

 noticed in the museum of the California Academy of Sciences, an(t 

 numerous others have been since obtained in the San Francisco markets, 

 where it is very common. It reaches a larger size than its relatives, 

 chlorostictns and constellatus, found in the same markets, and, like them, 

 it has been confounded by previous observers with romceiis and anricu- 

 latus. It ma}' be known from its relatives by its high dorsal spines, low 



