70 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
the end of the jaw. Scales small, ciliate, covering the head and body. Lateral line distinct, 
and concurrent with the back. Jaws equal. Teeth so minute as to be visible only with a 
lens. Preopercle minutely denticulate. 
The first dorsal triangular, with its first ray short, and equal to its last; the third, fourth 
and fifth rays longest; separated by a very short interval from the second dorsal, which is 
long and low, its rays (except the first) equal, and ending posterior to the termination of the 
anal. Pectorals long, scaly at the base, and composed of twenty branched rays. Ventrals 
slightly behind the pectorals, with one short and five branched rays. Anal excavated on its 
margin ; its anterior spine almost concealed in the skin. Caudal fin lunate, covered high up 
with small scales. 
Color. Whitish, with from twelve to eighteen dark greyish bars directed obliquely forward, 
more vertical behind. Irides yellow; pupils black. Fins yellowish; dorsal and anal fins 
minutely punctate with black. A round blackish brown spot on each side, more or less dis- 
tinct, on the lateral line, above the base of the pectorals. 
Length, 6-0- 8-0. Of head, 1°6-1°8. Depth, 2:0 -2°5. 
Fin‘rays; D.9:1.30; P. 20; V. 15; A.2.12;C. 19. 
This beautiful little fish, which furnishes a delicate article of food, is usually rare in our 
waters, but visits us in almost incredible numbers at irregular and generally distant intervals. 
One of these visits happened to coincide with the arrival of the great and the good La Fayerre 
at New-York, in the summer of 1824. His name was unanimously given to a fish, which 
was considered as entirely new, and this name it still retains. It must be very common on 
the southern coast, but I cannot find that it has in those parts received any popular name. If 
I am correct in supposing that the S. multifasciata of Lesueur, described from a dried spe- 
cimen, is identical with the Lafayette, it is common on the coast of Florida. Thus far, there 
is reason to believe that the coast of New-York forms its extreme northern geographic limits. 
I see no good reason for changing the prior and characteristic name given to it by Dr. 
Mitchill. 
(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 
L. xanthurus. (Cuv. et Van. Vol. 5, p. 142.) Unspotted; without bands. Fins, and especially the 
caudal, yellow. D.11.1.32; A. 2.18. Length six or eight inches. Sowth-Carolina. 
