612 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



body with siiiiill round brown spots, which form more or less regular 

 series; soft dorsal and caudal densely spotted. Body oblong, sonie- 

 vrhat regularly elliptical. Head blunt, short, and deep, the profile ab- 

 ruptly descending" to the snout. Lips thick, the lower without frenum. 

 Teeth moderate, conical, in about two series, the inner very small. 

 Clieeks, opercles, and top of head scaly. Spines still* and low. Cau- 

 dal forked; pectorals and veutrals long. Head 4; depth 2J. D. XII, 

 11; A. II, 10; scales 4-29-10; IS in course of lateral line; L. 9 inches. 

 Pacific coast, north to Point Concepcion; not rare. 



(Aij7'csia punct'qyandfi Cooper, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1833, 73.) 



961. Co HDBSoIataas (Cuv. & Val.) J. & G. 



Dark brownish, with metallic reflections ; each scale on the head and 

 anterior part of the body with a blue spot; young with two blue lines 

 along the forehead convergent on the snout, and with a black spot im- 

 mediately behind the dorsal fin. Caudal fin emarginate, with rounded 

 lobes. Second anal spine more than half the length of the head ; dor- 

 sal spines high; veutrals long; pectorals moderate. Depth 2; D. Xlll, 

 12; A. II, 12 ; scales 2-28-9 ; coeca 2. West Indies, north to Southern 

 Florida. 



(Hdiases InsoJatus Cuv. & Val. v, 494 : HeJimics hinolaliis Giiuthcr, ir, 61.) 



Family XCVII— EPHIPPID^. 



{The Angel-fishes.) 



Body compressed, usually greatly elevated, the anterior profile steep. 

 Scales moderate or small, ctenoid, densely covering the soft parts of the 

 vertical fins ; lateral line present, following the curve of the back. Mourh 

 small, terminal, horizontal; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary short, 

 without supplemental bone, partly slipping under the preorbital ; jaws 

 with bands of slender, pointed, movable, brush like teeth; preopercle 

 usually very finely serrated ; gill-membranes broadly attached to the 

 isthmus, the openings restricted to the sides; branchiostegals 6 or 7; 

 pyloric coeca fe w ; gill-rakers very short ; j^seudobranchiiTe present. Dor- 

 sal fins 2, somewhat connected; the first of 8 to 11 spines, which are 

 depressible in a groove; soft dorsal and anal fins anteriorly high, their 

 bases thickened by the scales; anal spines 3 or 4, short; caudal fin 

 truncate or nearly so; pectorals short; veutrals long, thoracic, I, 5: 

 air-bladder large, commonly bifurcate in front, and with two slend.- 

 horns behind. As here understood, a group of 4 genera and about li> 



