538 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



XLV. CiESIOSOMA. 



Caesiosoma (Kaup) Bleekcr, Systema rcicarum Revisum, ii, 11, 1875 ((equijnnnia). 



Type: Scor2>is (cquipinnis Eicbardsoii. 



Etymolojfy: Ca-s/o, an allied genus; rrw/za, body. 



This genus is based on an Australian species which differs from the 

 type of Seor2)is {Scnrpis (leorgianus) in liaving the soft dorsal and anal 

 low and not talcate. The generic value of this character is at least 

 open to question. In the form of the soft dorsal, Ccesiosoma resembles 

 3Ie(li((luna, but in the latter genus the soft dorsal and anal are prct- 

 portiouately much shorter and the dorsal spines are not graduate. We 

 refer to G(esioso7na a South American species we have not seen, but 

 which seems to have the same generic characters. In all these species 

 the incisors have been described as cylindrical or conic, but they will 

 probably be found to have a tlattened form, as in Medialima, and to be 

 really lanceolate. 



ANALYSIS OP AMERICAN SPKCIES OF C.ESIOSOMA. 



a. [Body deep, tlie outlines strongly arched; mouth very oblique, the maxillary 

 reaching front of eye; snout shorter tliau eye; both margins of preopercle 

 finely toothed; nostrils round, close together; preorbital finely toothed; head 

 completely scaled, except the snout, lips, and part of each jaw; dorsal spines 

 growing steadily longer to the last, which is about half head; second soft ray 

 of dorsal highest ; third anal spine slightly longer than eye ; pectoral, 1 J iu head ; 

 ventral 2^; caudal deeply notched, its lobes slender; soft rays of vertical fins 

 closely scaled. Color, dusky violet above, silvery gray below; fins yellowish; 

 body sometimes irregularly mottled with darker. Head 4 in length; depth 2^; 

 eyeS^inhead. D. x, 27; A. iii,25. Scales, 70.] {Steindachner)..Cmi.F.sSE, 155^ 



155. CiESIOSOMA CHILENSE. 



Scor2n8 chilensis Gay, "Hist. Chil. Zoology, ii, 220; letiol., lam. 6, f. 1." (Juan Fer- 

 nandez); GUuther, ii, 64 (copied); Steindachner, Ichth. Beitriige, ii, 14, 

 1875 (Juan Fernandez). 

 Habitat: Islands of Chile. 

 Etymology: 1^'rom Chile. 



This species is known to us only from the scanty account copied by 

 Giinth(ir from Gay and from the detailed description given by Stein- 

 dachner. According to Steindachner, the species reaches a length of 

 a foot, and is very common on the coasts of Juan Fernandez. 



