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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



VOL. XXVIII. 



lower one nearly or quite simple;" the spinous part of the dorsal has 

 the anterior spines slowly g-racluated (third longest), and the connect- 

 ing membrane between all the v^ys, is only slightly emarginated and not 

 notched; the membrane between the anal spines is also merely notched. 

 The JVeosehastes entaxh has the body most convex far behind the 

 head and above the stomachal area, the ba(;k with only the last half 

 rectilinear tail wards; the pectoral fins have rounded margins (the 

 seventh and eighth rays being longest), and the lower ones (8) are 

 unbranched; the spinous part of the dorsal has the first three spines 

 rapidly graduated, and the connecting membrane between all is more 

 or less deeply notched; the membrane behind the first and second 

 anal spines is also deeply notclied. 



-N Kl ISKHASTKS K.NTAX IH. 



In fact, the ditiiculty of discrimination between the N. entaxis and 

 its relatives is not so nnich between it and JY. scorpwnoides as between 

 it and Sehastodeti and its near afiines. From all suc-h, however, the 

 species is separated l)y characters which it shares with X. scorpxnmdes 

 and which, indeed, led Jordan and Starks to refer it to the same genus: 

 " Suborbital stay and preopercle with a row of strong hooked spines; 

 dorsal spines very strong and long.-' The combination of all these 

 characters, however, isolates the fish in question as the type of an 

 independent genus. 



The genus thus indicated may })e named /Sehasto.^emvs, from ffe/iaffros, 

 august, elevated, and ffi'ifun^ battle banner, in allusion to the high 

 ranked dorsal spines. The name is thus assimilated to man}' other 

 genera of the family. 



The only known species is the Sehastosemiis entaxls. 



