374 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, [32] 
27. NEBRIS MICROPS. 
Nebris microps Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 149, plate 112, 1830 (Surinam), 
Giinther, Cat. Fish, Brit. Mus., ii, 316, 1860 (copied), Steindachner, Ichthyol. 
Beitr., iv, 10,1875 (Bay of Panama). Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. U.S, Fish Com., 
1882, 111 (Panama). . 
Habitat.—Both coasts of Central America, Surinam, Panama. 
The specimen from which our description is taken was obtained by 
Professor Gilbert at Panama, where the species is not rare. 
The original type of the species, from Surinam, has been examined by 
us, but it is not in very good condition, and no characters distinguishing 
it from the Panama form were noted. No direct comparison of Atlantic 
and Pacific specimens has yet been made. Numerous specimens from 
Panama are in the museum at Cambridge. 
Genus VI.—LARIMUS. 
Larimus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 145, 1830 (breviceps). 
Amblyscion Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, 165 (argenteus). 
Monosira Poey, Anales de Hist. Nat. Esp., 1881, 326 (stahli). 
TypE: Larimus breviceps Cuvier & Valenciennes. 
This genus seems to be a very natural one, and well worthy of dis- 
tinction, although it is very closely related to Bairdiella and other more 
typical Sciasnoids. The short snout and oblique mouth reach an extreme 
in Larimus argenteus, but no definite generic line can be drawn between 
that species and the others. Besides the following, one other species, — 
Larimus peli Bleeker, is known, from Guinea. The species called Lari- 
mus auritus (Brachydeuterus auritus Gill) is not a Scienoid fish at all, but 
allied to Pomadasis. 
ANALYSIS OF SPECIES OF LARIMUS. 
a. Dorsal wjth 27 to 30 soft rays; mouth extremely oblique or vertical. 
'b. Mouth large, the cleft vertical; profile slightly convex, nearly horizontal; no 
traces of dark stripes along the rows of scales; snout very short, 54 in head; 
eye large, 4%; profile slightly convex, little oblique; snout very short, 54 in 
head ; maxillary not extending beyond anterior margin of pupil, 2in head ; teeth 
all minute; preopercle with a striated and ciliated membranaceous border ; 
gill-rakers } length of eye, 7-+-16; scales on head all cyecloid; highest dorsal 
spine 2} in head; ventrals a little shorter than pectorals, which are about as 
long as head; color plumbeous above, golden below and on sides; a black axil- 
lary spot; a large steel-blue opercular spot. Head 3;in length; depth 34. D. 
X-I, 27; A. II, 6. Scales 6=49-6 ..... -......--.....---------- ARGENTEUS, 28. 
bb. Mouth not quite vertical; upper parts with dark streaks along the rows of 
scales ; profile slightly convex, alittle oblique; snout very short, 6 in head; eye 
4; maxillary extending to below front of orbit, 2 in head ; teeth in lower jaw 
uniserial, in upper uniserial in front, in about two series laterally ; preopercle 
with a ciliated, membranous border; gill-rakers slender and long, 10+ 21; 
dorsal spines weak, the highest 1} in head ; ventrals a little shorter than pec- 
torals, which are as long as head; scales large, those on head chiefly eycloid ; 
color plumbeous-silvery, with more or less conspicuous oblique blackish streaks 
