PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 4C5 



lable as a species from Catostonius arden.s. Meanwhile we abstain from 

 giving a new name until more specimens can be obtained to settle the 

 question. 

 Indiana State University, December 4, 1880. 



»ESCRDI»T30:V OF A TSISW^ SPECIES OF "ItOCK FISH" (SEBASTI4JH- 

 TDIYS CBIRVSOMELiAS), FKOM THE COAST OF CAI.IFORIVI A. 



By DAVID S. JORDAN nsid CHARLES H. OILBERT. 



Sebastichthys chrysomelas, sp. nov. 



{SebasUchthyti nebulosm Jordtm &, Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii, 1h,s0,'7.3, 

 and elsewhere ; uot Sehastes nebulosus Ayres.) 



In i)revious papers on the California rock-fish Ave have provisionally 

 identified one of the common species as the Sebastes nebulosus of Ayres. 

 Ayres himself, however, considered his own nebulosus as without ques- 

 tion the Sebastes fasciatus of Girard, which is the Sebastichthys fascio- 

 laris of Lockiugton. The two species agree closely in general charac- 

 ters, but diii'er in the development of the spines on the head, and 

 especially in color, the ^'fasciolaris" having the yellow markings in the 

 form of small spots or specklings, which are confluent along the sides, 

 forming a sort of band, the other species having the yellow areas all 

 large. The original description of Sebastes nebnlosus Ayres (Proc. Cal. 

 Acad. iSTat. Sci. i, 5, 1854) applies in the main to both species ; bat the 

 account of the coloration applies to S. fasciolaris Lockington, and not to 

 our " S. nebulosus ". 



Ayres says : 



"In color this fish is finely mottled with dusky yellow and dark 

 brown ; on tiie fins the latter hue predominates, and the lighter mot- 

 tlings have rather a bluish aspect." 



We propose, therefore, to CAmaidor fasciolaris a synonym of nebulosus, 

 and to give to the species previously called nebulosus by us the new 

 name chrysomelas, in allusion to its yellow and black coloration. 



Description. — Body short and stout, not much compressed ; highest 

 at the origin of the first dorsal, thence tapering rapidly to the tail. Head 

 short, bluntish, the profile very steep. Mouth rather small, nearly 

 horizontal, entirely below the axis of the body. Lower jaw rather 

 shorter than the upper in the closed mouth; no prominent symphyseal 

 knob. Premaxillaries anteriorly on the level of the lower edge of the 

 orbit; maxillary reaching the vertical from the i)osterior margin of the 

 l)upil. 



Preorbital wide, its neck about half the diameter of the eye, its mar- 

 gin sinuate, usually with a spine. 



Ridges on top of head very i)rominent, high and strong, ending in 

 strong spines, which diverge backward. They are a little stronger than 

 in S. carnatus, but lower than in S. nebulosus. The following pairs are 

 present: Nasal, preocular, supraocular, tympanic, and occipital, five in 

 all. Preopercular spines short and thick, the uppermost usually the 

 Proc. Nat. Mus. 30 30 Feb. 16, 188 1. 



