532 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



273.— POL.VPRIOW Cuvier. 

 Stone Bass. 

 (Cavier, Regue Anim. ii, 1817 : type Pohjprlon cernium Val.) 



Body robust, moderately elevated, covered with small, firm scales, 

 which extend on the vertical fins. Mouth large, the lower jaw pro- 

 jecting. Teeth in villiform bands on jaws, vomer, palatines, and 

 tongue. Preopercle serrate; orbital region with spinous projections; 

 a strong, rough, bony longitudinal ridge on the opercle. Dorsal fin 

 continuous, low, with 11 strong spines; caudal rounded; anal with 

 3 spines, the third the largest; ventrals large; pectorals short. 

 Spines of anal and ventrals somewhat serrate on the anterior edge. 

 Vertebrte 13 + 13. Pyloric coeca about 70. Branchiostegals 7. (-o/y?, 

 many; 7rpi6v, saw.) 



835. P. oxygennus (Scliu.) J- & G. — Stone Bass; Wrcck-fish ; Ceniier. 



Grayish brown, the caudal edged with white; young clouded with 

 light and dark. Body robust, somewhat compressed; the back ele- 

 vated. Mouth rather large, the scaly maxillary extending to opposite 

 the posterior margin of the eye ; lower jaw the longer. Supraocular 

 region, scapula, suprascapula, i^reoj^ercle, and a ridge on opercle spi- 

 nigerous. Anal spines short, serrate anteriorly, the third much the 

 longest. Head 3 ; depth 2^. D. XI, 12; A. Ill, 8; L. 6 feet. A very 

 large fish of the coasts of Southern Europe and Africa ; a single young- 

 specimen lately obtained in deep water by the United States Fish Com- 

 mission. It resembles Stereolepis, but is much rougher. • 



{AmpMprion americanus Bloch & Schneider, 205, t. A7, 1801 ; erroneously ascribcrT to 

 America (Homew inejHuml): Epineplielus oxygeneios Bloch & Schneider, 301 : Pohjprion 

 cernium, Valenciennes, M6m. du Mus. xi, 265: Pohjprion cernium Cuv. & Val. iii, 21,pl. 

 42: Polijprion cernium QfMuihQV, i, 1G9: Polypr ion cernium Bay, Brit. Fish. 17.) 



274.— SERBAIVUS Cuvier. 



Sea Bass. 



(Cuvier &, Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poins. ii, 210, 1828: type Perca scriha L.) 



Body oblong or moderately elongate, covered with rather small, 

 ctenoid scales. Scales of the lateral line quadrilateral or subtriangu- 

 lar, ctenoid. Head oblong. Mouth wide, oblique. Maxillary with- 

 out supplemental bone. Outer series of teeth more or less enlarged 

 and canine-like, the canines sometimes very small, sometimes largo, 

 commonly numerous and develoi)ed along the sides of the lower jaw, 



