442 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.37. 



palatines; tongue smooth. Head partly scaled, snout naked; pre- 

 opercle entire or finely sen-ate behind, with antrorse spines on the 

 lower border; opercle with three spines. Gill membranes separate; 

 pseudobranchise present; gill-rakers moderate. Dorsal fin single, 

 with VI or VIII, 11-12 rays, the spinous portion nearly as long as 

 the soft. Anal short, with III, 8 rays, the spines very feeble, 

 flexible. Caudal truncate or emarginate. Pectorals symmetrical, 

 rounded, with 16 to 18 rays. Ventrals below the pectorals, close 

 together, with a feeble, flexible spine. Posterior processes of pre- 

 maxillaries extending nearly to between the f rontals ; parietal and 

 supraoccipital bones extending to between postfrontal processes, 

 with short, feeble crests. Vertebrte 24 (10+14). 



This genus is abundant in the South Seas and tropical Pacific. 

 It is close to EjnnepTielus, from which it differs in the presence of 

 but 6 to 8 dorsal spines and in the recurved hooks on the lower part 

 of the preorbital. This character appears in several other genera, 

 some of them not closely related to Plectropomns. 



The genus as originally formed included two species, the one the 

 type of Lates, the other chosen by subsequent writers as type of 

 Plectropoma. As calcarifer is the species first mentioned by Cuvier, 

 Bleeker has chosen it as type, framing the new name Paracantliis- 

 tius for the present group. EarHer usage has, however, chosen 

 maculatus as the type of the group. The earliest spelling in Latin 

 form is Plectropomus, not Plectropoma. 



(jikqKTpov, spur; TicbfxcK, opercle). 



10. PLECTROPOMUS MACULATUS (Bloch). 



Bodianus maculatus Block, Ichthy., vol. 4, 1790, p. 48, pi. 228 ("Japan," prob- 

 ably Isle de France). 



Plectropoma maadatum Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 2, 

 1828, p. 393 (Isle de France, based on the Bodianus maculatus of Bloch). — 

 GuNTHER, Cat., vol. 1, 1859, p. 156 (Red Sea). — Boulenger, Cat. Fishes, 

 vol. 1, 1895, p. 160 (Indian and Western Pacific oceans to Cape York and 

 Mauritius) . 



Paracanthistius maculatus Jordan and Seale, Fishes Samoa, 1906, p. 25G (Samoa, 

 Fate). 



Ilolocentrus leopardus Lacepede, Poiss., vol. 4, 1802, pp. 332, 367 (Indian Ocean). 



Plectropoma leopardinum Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 2, 

 1828, p. 392, pi. 36 (Indian Ocean, based on the Holocentrus leopardus of 

 Lacepede). — Temminck and Schlegel, Faun. Japon., Pise., 1842, p. 12 

 (Nagasaki). — and of authors. 



Labrus Ixvis Lacepede, Bodianus cyclostomus and mdanoleucus Lacepede, 

 Plectropoma punctatum Quov and Gainard, melanoleucum Cuvier and 

 Valenciennes, areolatum RtJppELL, cyanostigma Bleeker, P. leopardus 

 Richardson, Paracanthistius leopardinus Bleeker, Paracanthistius maculatus 

 Bleeker, etc. 



D. VII or VIII, 11-12. A. Ill, 8. Scales 16 to 20-120 to US- 

 GO to 80; scales in lateral line 80 to 106. Depth of body equal to or 



