62 FISHES FROM BRAZIL 



amination of our available material of Pomacanthus from the Atlantic. 

 These separate easily into two species as in the following key. 



(a) Caudal truncate, or lunate in large specimens, with outer angles 

 sharp and a broad white border behind ; dorsal spines 8 or 9 ; small scales 

 crowded in about larger ones, all of them with a light posterior border, but 

 the larger ones most conspicuous ; no white lines from eye to nostril ; no 

 large light spot on pectoral base. P. arcuatus (Linnaeus).* 



(aa) Caudal broadly rounded and scarcely or bluntly angulated at the 

 outer rays, and with a very narrow or no white margin; dorsal spines 10; 

 scales more nearly uniform in size and only part of them with a light border 

 (those corresponding with the large scales of the other species) ; a light bar 

 from eye to nostril ; and a light spot on base of pectoral. 



P. paru (Bloch). 



Of P. arcuatus we have 7 specimens, from 5 to 12 inches long, from 

 Brazil and the West Indies. Of P. paru we have 5 specimens, from 5 to 7 

 inches long, from the same localities. 



In Jordan and Evermann's description of the first species the dorsal 

 spines and the color are correctly described, but the caudal is incorrectly said 

 to be rounded. There is said (correctly) to be no pale stripe before the eye, 

 but in the description of P. paru, P. arcuatus is said to have a "white stripe 

 from the eye to nostril," and the caudal is said to have no pale edge. In the 

 last description P. paru is first said to have the caudal truncate and farther 

 on in the same description it is correctly said to be rounded. 



The following is the color in life of the specimen of P. paru from Natal. 

 The ground color is dark lead-color, nearly black, with scales at regular 

 intervals edged with canary-yellow, making the flesh appear as if it had much 

 larger scales than it has. The iris, preopercular spine, and a large blotch 

 at the caudal base are bright yellow. The upper jaw is dusky yellow, and 

 the lower jaw light. The cross bars on the body and fins are bright yellow. 



Family ACANTHURID^. 



195. Hepatus hepatus (Linnaeus). 



Several specimens were taken by the trawl boat from deep water, and 

 the young were abundant in the rock pools about Natal. The following is 

 the color in life. The body is dusky yellowish above and slaty brown below. 

 Narrow vertical dark bars cross the side, and narrow yellow and blue streaks 

 run forward and backward from the eye and merge into the ground color of 



* If either of the species here considered is to be identified with P. arcuatus it 

 must be this one, for the only differential character Linnaeus gives is the number of 

 dorsal spines, though the other species has been in the past so identified. 



