926 OONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



tuberance; posterior nostril slit-like, much larger than the roundish 

 anterior nostril; opercles very short and deep; cheeks and opercles 

 scaly, rest of head naked ; month low, horizontal, rather small ; both 

 jaws with a band of cardiform teeth in front, the anterior series more 

 or less enlarged, sometimes canine-like ; sides of each jaw with 2 to 4 

 series of molars ; gill-rakers small. Scales large. Dorsal continuous, 

 rather low, its spines slender; a procumbent spine before the dorsal, 

 concealed by scales in some of the species; caudal deeply forked; 

 anal spines rather small ; pectoral rather narrow, usually very long. 

 Second interspinal hone of the anal enlarged^ pen-shai^ed, the end of the 

 air-bladder being received into its concave part. "The skull is ex- 

 tended downwards to the chevron of the A^omer, and entire on each 

 side behind the forehead ; the parasphenoid has a deep but thin infe- 

 rior crest, which is more or less notched in front of its posterior decur- 

 rent processes;, the forehead comparatively narrow, ill-defined, de- 

 pressed above the preorbital region, horizontally pitted; the occipi- 

 tal crest extending far forwards and thickened with vertical osseous 

 deposits, the inner as well as the outer lateral crests depressed near 

 the orbits." {Gill, MSS.) Species rather numerous, mostly of small 

 size, chiefly of tropical America. (Latin calamus, a pen.) 

 8'3'6 (?)). C. meg:acep3aa3iiis Sw. — PUime-fish; Fez dc Plmna. 



Light olive, with bluish reflections, the young with dark cross-bars; 

 front of head and preorbital region with horizontal anastomosing wavy 

 lines of steel blue, the interspaces yellowish; ventrals pale. Body com- 

 pressed, the back arched, the anterior profile steep, not very convex ; 

 depth of preorbital half head ; preocular prominence not very sharp ; 

 eye moderate, 4 in head. Cleft of mouth 3| in head. Anterior teeth 

 of each jaw moderately enlarged, 6 to 8 in number; outermost tooth on 

 each side of upper jaw much larger than the others, forming a strong 

 canine directed outward and forward. A concealed procumbent spine 

 before dorsal ; dorsal of moderate height, the soft rays highest ; caudal 

 deeply forked, the upper lobe the longer; amal spines small, gradu- 

 ated; pectoral reaching front of anal, a little longer than head. Head 

 ^ ; depth 2}. i). XII, 12 ; A. Ill, 10 ; scales 6-55-10. "West Indies, 

 north to Florida. 



{Pagellus calamus C. »fe V. vi, 20'>, 1830 : Calamus megacephalus Swainsou, Nat. Hist. 

 Fish, ii, 222, 18:59: Clirijsophrys calamus Glintlier, i, 187; Poey, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hisr. 

 N. Y. X, 178, 1872: "? Calamus pcnnatula Guiclieuot, R6vuc dcs Page's in Mem. Soc. 

 Imp. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg, xiv, 112, 18G8.) 



8Y6 (c). C. bajonado (Bloch & Schneider) Poey. 



Bluish gray, with bright reflections; a blue stripe below eyej angle 



