[75] 



CATALOGUE OF THE FISHES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



271— POROMITRA' Goode & Bean. 



832. Poromitra capito Goode & Beau. B. 



272.— HOPLOSTETHUS Cuv. & Val. (238) 



833. Hoplostethus mediterraneus Cuv. &- Val. B. Eu. (719) 



Family XCV.— HOLOCENTRID.^.* 



273— HOLOCENTRUM Blocb. (239) 



834. Holocentrum ascensione' Osbeck. W. (720) 



835. Holocentnim suborbitale^ Gill. P. 



274.— MYRIPRISTIS* Cuv. 



836. Myripriatis occidentalis Gill. P. 



837. Myripristis poecilopus Gill. P. 



1 POROMITKA Goode & Bean. 



(Goode & Beau, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool, 1882, 215 ; type, Poromitra capito G. & B.). 



Body .short, coiupressed, scopelifonu, covered with thin cycloid scales. Head very 

 large (in young specimens nearly as long as trunk), its sides scaly. No barbel. 

 Mouth very large, the lower jaw projecting. Margin of upper jaw composed of a 

 long maxillary and a short preniaxillary. Teeth very small, cardiform, on premax- 

 illaries and lower jaw only. Opercula complete. Dorsal fin in middle of body, its 

 origin not far behind veutrals, its spinous and soft portions about equal in length ; 

 anal much shorter than dorsal ; the last rays of dorsal nearly above its middle. 

 Pseiulobranchiie present. Gill openings very wide. Deep seas. (Ilopog, pore; fiirpa, 

 stomacher.) 



Poromitra capito Goode &, Bean. 



Eye large, as long as suout ; maxillary 3i in head. Scales as large as pupil, with 

 concentric stri«. Insertion of dorsal midway between tip of snout and base of caudal; 

 base of anal half that of dorsal; pectoral inserted low, its length twice its distance 

 from the snout; ventrals minute, in advance of pectorals. Caudal (mutilated in the 

 known specimens). Head 2\ (in young). D. VII or VIII, 9; A. 9; V. 7 or 8 ; P. 12. 

 Gulf Stream in lat. 34°. ( Goode <^- Bean.) 



(Goode «& Bean, 1. c, 214, 1882). 



•^The genera Holocentrum and Myripristis, shore fishes with long spinous dorsal, 

 should probably be regarded as formiug a family distinct from the Benjcidw, which 

 are deep-sea fishes with a single dorsal, provided with but few spines, or even with 

 none. 



■^This species, called in the text Holocentrum jyentacanthum, should apparently 

 stand as HoJocentrum rt.scewsioHe (Osbeck). In life, an oblifjue white bar descends back- 

 ward from the eye ; this disappears entirely in spirits. To the synonymy, add : (Perca 

 asc nfionis Osheek, Iter Chin., 1771, 388; Perca ascensionis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1788, 

 1318 ; AmpMprion matejuelo Bloch & Schneider, Ichthyol., 1801, 206; Holocenlrum ma- 

 tejucio Poey, Memorias Cuba, II, 155,1860.) 



* Holocentrum snlorMtah Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, 86. Mazatlau to 

 Panama. Abundant in rock-pools. 



"Myripristis Cuv. 



(Cuvier, R^gue Animal; type Mijriprlslis jacohiis Cuv. & Val.) 



This genus is very closely related to Holocentrum, differing externally, chiefly in 

 the absence of the large spine at the angle of the preopercle. The air-bladder is 

 divided into two parts by a transverse constriction, and the pyloric cceca are rather 



