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290 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
Ridges on top of head rather low, not ending in very prominent 
spines. The following pairs are present: Nasal, preocular, supraocular, 
and occipital, four in all. Occasionally the tympanic spine is also devel- 
oped, although very small. The nasal spines are quite prominent. The 
preocular and superocular moderately so, but short. The occipital 
spines are comparatively short and low. 
Preorbital bone with the neck very narrow, scar cely one-fifth the di- 
ameter of the eye, provided anteriorly with two stout spines, which pro- 
ject backward. 
Preopercular spines short, but rather ian the second longer and 
slenderer than the others, all of them pointed. Subopercle and interoper- 
ele with spines. Opercular and suprascapular spines sharp. 
Interorbital space rather broad and slightly convex, widened back- 
ward, a little depressed on each side next the supraocular spine, its 
width less than that of the eve and more than the length of the occipital 
spine. 
Gill-rakers long and slender, but stouter, rougher, and shorter than 
in S. pinniger, 9 above the sella and about 22 alae 3 the longest two- 
fifths the diameter of the eye, about half the interorbital space. 
Seales on the head rather large, about 15 in a cross-series on the 
checks above the suborbital stay. Preorbital scaly. : 
Seales on body large and somewhat more regularly arranged than usual. 
Accessory scales present, but not numerous; 52 transverse series of 
scales. 
Dorsal spines moderate, the fifth and sixth spines highest, the others 
regularly shortened each way, the twelfth about as long as the first, the 
membrane joining the thirteenth less than half way up; the highest 
spine rather less than half the length of the head and lower than the 
soft rays, which are rather high. Caudal slightly rounded. 
Anal fin short and high, its spines slender, the second shorter than 
the third, and not much stronger. Pectorals long and narrow, reaching 
past the vent and nearly to the beginning of the anal, their length 
seven-eighths that of the head, their base quite narrow, less than the 
diameter of the eye. Ventrals long, reaching just past the vent. 
YD), XT, 1, Tass SAC EE, 7. 
Color similar to that of S. rastrelliger, but paler, usually olive-green, 
marbled with darker; belly pale yellowish green; fins olivaceous. Some- 
times this species is quite dark, but it never shows red tints either on 
body or fins. 
This species is closely related to S. pinniger, from which it differs in 
the absence of the postocular and tympanic spines and in the coloration, 
S. pinniger being always chiefly orange-red. Externally it resembles S. 
rastrelliger most, but it may be known at once from the latter species 
by the long gill rakers and narrow pectorals. 
S. atrovirens is very abundant from Point Concepcion as far as San 
Diego. About Catilina Island it is the most abundant species of the 
