91. SCIiENIDuE — MENTICIRRUS. 577 



smnll, horizontal, both jaws with bauds of villiform teeth, the outer 

 teeth in the upper jaw more or less eularged; chin with a single stout- 

 ish barbel; preopercle with its membranaceous e<lge serrulate; gill- 

 rakers short, tubercular; dorsal spines high, slen(.er; second dorsal 

 long and low; caudal fin with the lower angle rounded, the upper 

 sharp; anal fin with a single weak spine; no air-bladder. Lower pha- 

 ryngeals separate, small, with sharp teeth. Species numerous in Amer- 

 ican waters. (Latin, mentum, chin; cirrufi, barbel.) 

 a. Outer row of teeth in iipjier jaw not greatly enlarged. 



907. M. nebulosus (Mitchill) Gill.— nVf/'Z/Hv; 7u»r/-/,s7(; Barb. 



Bright grayish silvery, with irregular dark bars, those in front run- 

 ning obliquely backward and downward, those behind obliquely forward 

 and downward ; tins all dusky. Body elongate, terete, but little com- 

 pres.sed; .snout very blunt; profile evenly curved; eyes very small, 

 about 2 in snout; outer teeth not much enlarged ; pectoral fins short 

 and broad, scarcely reaching tips of ventrals, 1^ in head ; ventrals If in 

 head; dorsal fins scarcely connected; spinous dorsal high, its height 

 three-fourths length of head; anal spine very weak, less than half the 

 height of fin. Head 3f in length ; depth 4a D. X-I, 26 ; A. I, 8 ; Lat. 

 1. about CS. Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras ; common northward ; an im- 

 portant food-fish. 



(Sciana nehulosa Mitch. Trans. Lit. and Philos. Soc. N. Y. i, 403, 1815: Umbrina neh- 

 ulosa Giiuther, ii, 275.) 



908. M. lit.'oraJis (Holbrook) Gill.— 5'Hr/ Whiting. 



This species is said to be distinguished from M. alhurnus by the plain 

 silvery color and the absence or reduction of the outer series of larger 

 teeth. Form entirely similar to that of M. alburnns. D. X-I, 27 ; A. 1, 1). 

 Coast of South Carolina. (Holbroolc.) 



( Umbrina Utturalis Holbrook, Icb. S. Car. 1S6(), 144 : Umbrina littoralin Giintber, ii, 27G. ) 

 aa. Outer row of teeth in upper jaw much enlarged. 



909. M. albiirntis (Linn.) GiW.— Whitintj. 



Silvery, faintly clouded along the back and sides, these marks form- 

 ing dusky bars, running obliquely forward and downward to below 

 the lateral line, sometimes obsolete. Body elongate, rather slenderer 

 t\i?L\\ in neimlosus] back slightly arched; belly nearly straight. Snout 

 broad, depressed, and bluntish, i)rotruding beyond the niontli. Outer 

 teeth of upi)er jaw very strong. Maxillary reaching to below middle of 

 the small eye. Third dorsal spine highest, less than half the length of 

 the soft dorsal, and two-thirds the length of head; pectorals broad, 

 Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 16 37 



