SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 333 



Diagnosis. — Body strongly compressed, the depth a little less than .33 length; head .25 

 length; eye placed high, near superior profile, .16 length of head and about .5 length of maxillary; 

 scales in lateral series 26 or 27, in transverse series 2+ 8; lateral line on second row of scales, 

 dropping to fourth row on peduncle; dorsal rays ix,12, the longest spine 2 times diameter of 

 eye, the posterior rays slightly produced; anal rays iii,ll, the soft rays longer than in dorsal; 

 caudal rounded, shorter than head; pectorals shorter and ventrals slightly longer than caudal, 

 the first ventral ray produced. Color: reddish, each scale with a vertical blue streak; similar 

 streaks on head; a silvery area behind and below pectorals; a dark red shade across pectorals in 

 male; dorsal plain; anal streaked obliquely with green; caudal with 6 to 8 dark vertical lines. 

 {psittacus, a parrot.) 



The range heretofore ascribed to the razor-fish has been from the West 

 Indies to Pensacola and Charleston. It is now recorded for the first time from 

 the North Carohna coast. Three specimens 4.25 inches long were collected by 

 the steamer Fish-Hawk off Beaufort in August, 1902, and another specimen is 

 reported to have been taken at the Mullet Pond on Shackleford Bank during the 

 same summer. An example 7 inches long now in the State Museum was obtained 

 in the Wilmington market in the summer of 1884. The species reaches a length 

 of 15 inches. 



Family SCARID^. The Parrot-fishes. 



Several hundred parrot-fishes are known from the warmer waters of the 

 world; they are for the most part gaily-colored, large scaled, herbivorous fishes, 

 particularly numerous among coral reefs, and having but little food value, the 

 flesh being soft. The shape of the head, the size and position of the eye, the 

 character of the teeth, and the coloration strongly suggest the parrots. Body 

 more or less elongate, rather stout; mouth terminal, of rather small size, the jaw 

 teeth fused so as to form a strong beak, the lower pharyngeal teeth arranged in a 

 mosaic; scales cycloid, completely covering body and part of head; lateral line 

 present; dorsal fins continuous, with about 9 spines and 10 soft rays; anal fin 

 similar to soft dorsal, preceded by 2 spines. Only 1 species has as yet been 

 recorded from the waters of the state, but representatives of several other genera 

 occur as stragglers on the Middle Atlantic and Southern New England coast, and 

 1 appears to range regularly as far north as Charleston, so others may in time be 

 met with in North Carolina. 



Genus SPARISOMA Swainson. Oldwives. 



A numerous genus of small fishes, practically confined to American waters, 

 distinguished by having the gill-membranes broadly united to isthmus; the jaw 

 teeth for the most coalesced in adult, with a median suture, sometimes a supple- 

 mentary row of canine teeth in upper jaw; lower pharyngeal bones broader than 

 long; few scales on head, a single row on cheeks; a continuous lateral line, with 

 tubes much branched; sharp dorsal spines; and color plain or showy. (Spari- 

 soma, having the body of Sparus, which is an ancient name for some sparoid 

 fish.) 



