54 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [I880. 



reaching last ray of dorsal. Head 4 in length; depth 5J. 

 D. 12, A. 9. Scales 46. Pectoral fins dusky, darker to- 

 wards their tips ; ventrals dusky, nearly black mesially, 

 paler towards the edges ; dorsal and anal without dark 

 markings ; caudal dusky ; a faint dark streak along each 

 row of scales on upper part of body gibbifrons, 17. 



4. Ezoccstus exilicns. 



Exocccius exiliens, Gmeliu, Systema Natura^, 1788, 1400 (Carolina) ; Turton, 

 Linuajus, 80i7, 1806. (Copied.) 



'? Exocoetus exihtns, Cuv. & Vak, 1846, six, 114 (New Jersey); ?Giinther, vi, 

 1H66, 291. (Copied.) 



Exocoetus exsiliena, Walbauni, Artedi, Piscium, 1792, 50. (Copied.) 



Exocoetus fasciatns, Le Sueur, Jonru. Acad. Sci. Phila., 1821, 10, pi. 4, f. 2. (At- 

 lantic.) 



ExoccEtus lamellifcr, Kuer & Steindachner, Neue Fische. Mus. Godeff., 1866, 29. 

 (12° S., 330 W.) ; Liitken, Vidensk Meddel. Naturh. Foren., 1876,405,11. 

 (Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.) 



Habitat. — Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. 



Head 4 in length of body ; deptb 5^; D. 11 ; A. 11 ; 48 scales in lateral 

 line. Body little compressed, angulated.' Head broad; interorbital 

 space slightly concave; snout rather blunt, short, 4§ in length of head; 

 interorbital area 2^ in head; eye 2^ in head; lower jaw slightly longer 

 than upper. 



Pectorals long and broad, 1^ in length of body, their tips reaching 

 base of caudal. First two rays of pectoral simple and of equal length, 

 their length 2^ in length of tin, and connected to each other and to 

 third ray by rather broad membranes. 



Ventrals long, 2^ in body, their tips reaching base of caudal fin. 



Origin of ventrals midway between posterior margin of orbit and 

 last caudal vertebra. Last rays of dorsal and anal fins opposite each 

 other. Base of anal slightly shorter than that of dorsal. Dorsal rather 

 high, its longest ray 1|- in head ; longest ray of anal If in head. 



Color brownish above, silvery below. Pectorals and ventrals marbled 

 with black. Dorsal with a black spot on upper part of its anterior rays. 

 Lower caudal lobe with a black spot about ^ distance from its base. 

 Breast with three black cross-bauds. Anal tin white. 



The above description is taken from a singly specimen in the museum 

 of the Philadelphia Academy. It is 2f inches in length, and was ob- 

 tained by Mr. W. H. Jones at 31° 30' N., 36° 36' W., during a cruise of 

 the Constitution. 



We regard this species as, with little doubt, the original Exoccetus 

 exiliens of Gmelin. Gmelin's species is evidently one of those with long 

 anal and with the fins banded with black. The first and second rays of 

 the pectoral are said to be both short, a character which distinguishes 

 this species at once from E. rondeleti. 



The following is Gmelin's description : 



Exiliens. 3. E. pinnis ventralibus candani attiugentibns, D. 10, P. 15, V. 6, A. 11, 

 C.20 



