EDWIN CHAPIN STARKS 



51 



of which is under the 8th to the 11th rays, and the last under the last rays, 

 and one across the caudal peduncle. The lower parts are very bright chrome 

 yellow, or sometimes deep orange, being brightest on the head. The ven- 

 trals, pectorals and anal are bright yellow or orange, the first two growing 

 coal black toward their points, and the anal dusky with dots. The dorsal 

 rays grow dark toward the edge of the fin, and the caudal is slightly yellow, 

 obscured by dark points. 



172. Plagioscion squamosissimus (Heckel). 



Several specimens were collected at Para, the largest 9 inches in entire 

 length. 



This species may readily be separated from Plagioscion auratus and 

 Plagioscion surinamensis by the short, slender, second spine of the anal, 

 which is contained from 3^ to 4^^ times in the head, and is about as thick 

 as the distance from the front of one anal ray to the front of the next, or 

 scarcely wider than the ventral spine. In the other two species it is twice 

 or more times wider than this. In the mandible there is a row of small, fine, 

 sharp teeth, and just inside of them is a row of from 7 to 10 widely spaced 

 canines, many times larger than the outer row. The two rows are so closely 

 approximated that they appear like a single row with a tooth enlarged at 

 intervals. In the premaxillary there are two rows similar in size to the lower 

 teeth, but the outer row is the large row in this case, instead of the inner, 

 and the rows are more distinctly separated. The differences in size between 

 the teeth in this species is much greater than in the other two species here 

 considered, or in other words, the enlarged teeth are much more enlarged. 



TABLE OF MEASUREMENTS EXPRESSED IN HUNDREDTHS OF LENGTH. 



Length in mm. to caudal base 



Head in lOOths of length 



Length of maxillary 



Long diameter of eye 



Width of interorbital space . . . 



Length of snout 



Length of pectoral 



Length of ventral 



Length of second anal spine . . . 

 Width of second anal spine. . . . 

 Length of fourth dorsal spine . 



Length of caudal 



Number of dorsal rays 



Number of anal rays 



