i 
54 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 
Difficult though it may be to prove upon paper the distinctness of 
these forms, there do not exist on this coast any other four species be- 
longing to one group which can be so unerringly separated by the eye. 
Diagnosis. 
Sides with purple blotches ; ? 
pectorals barred. C. pictus. 
Suborbital stay scaleless; di- 
ameter of orbit about 7z)> of 
total length. 
Sides withrings of small dark | 
oat spots surrounding areas | 
of lighter color than the general > C. constéllatus. 
ground; pectorals sharply spot- f 
Suborbital stay scaly; diam- | ted. 
eter of orbit about +35 of total{ Sides with irregularly scat- 
length. tered circular or subcircular +C. guttatus. 
spots; pectorals nearly plain. 
Sides with irregularly shaped 
blotches, disposed i in five or six > C. maculo-seriatus, 
longitudinal series. 
C. pictus. 
This form is more inconstant in the number of its fin-rays and in 
the coloration than any of the others. 
Six specimens now before me vary as follows in the rays of the dorsal 
and anal: 
No. 1. Locality, San Francisco market........... D. XX, 355 A. 21 
No. 2. Locality, San Francisco market........... D; XXI,<4;; A. 22 
No. 3. Locality, San Francisco market. ..-.-.-. eo5 DD XX we 
No. 4. Locality, Kadiak Island, Alaska.......... Dy eee 
No. 5. Locality, San Francisco market. .......--. D. = SXUXe 2a Ag ail 
No. 6. Locality, Kadiak Island, Alaska........-.. D. XVIII, 3,; A. 24 
The color of all the species changes rapidly on exposure to air or im- 
mersion in alcohol. 
No. 2, when fresh, was of a brilliant green upon the belly and lower 
part of the flanks, deepening into brown above, and blotched with 
bright purple. After exposure, the ground tint becomes first reddish, 
and finally dull purplish brown, while the SDS blotches gradually 
fade into dirty white. 
The dorsal and anal are blotched like the body, and the pectorals 
barred with the same tints. 
In all the examples examined, the ventrals are shorter than the pec- 
torals, and fall considerably short of the vent; and the lowest pair of 
lateral lines unite much nearer to the ventrals than to the vent. 
I can perceive no constant difference between specimens from Alaska 
and those found in our market. The most ordinary number of rays in 
the first dorsal appears to be nineteen. 
No. 1 differs from all the others in the total absence of brighter 
blotches upon the sides, but the pectorals are barred, and all other 
characters coincide. 
Chirus constellatus. 
First dorsal, in all the individuals examined, with twenty-one rays, 
