264 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [40] 



ANALYSIS OF SPECIES OF PLATOPHRYS. 



a. Anal rays — at least anteriorly — eacli with a spinule at base (those are formed by 

 a slight widening of the tip of the interhsemal spines, each being cov- 

 ered by a little rough scale) ; front of dorsal with similar projections. 

 b. Color brownish, more or less marked with spots of light blue and brownish, 

 which are usually edged with darker, these usually arranged in rings ; 

 a large black blotch on the lateral line ; mouth small, the maxillary 4 

 in head ; interorbital width ranging with age and sex from 21 to \\ in 

 head; snout short, scarcely forming a re-entrant angle at its base; an 

 angle opposite upper eye ; depth 1* in length, D. 85 to 91, A. 70. 



Podas, 37. 

 hb. Color brown, covered with pale rounded spots ; fins dotted with brown ; a faint 

 dark spot at fust third of lateral line; snout with horny points; 

 mouth small, the maxillary reaching front of eye. Eyes very wide 

 apart, 2£ in head ; the interorbital space If in head ; pectoral fin short ; 

 curve of lateral line 5 in straight part. Depth If in length. D. about 

 74; anal about 57. Scales about 80. (Described from specimens 4£ 

 inches long, which have been partly dried before being placed in al- 

 cohol) Spinosus, 38. 



act. Anal rays without srnnules at their base. 



c. Anterior profile of head convex before the interorbital area, the very short 

 snout scarcely forming a re-entrant angle at its base; form elliptic- 

 ovate, the outlines more regular than in PI. lunatus. 

 d. Dorsal rays 85 to 05. 



e. Scales not very small, about 75 pores in the lateral line. (No blue mark- 

 ings, at least in young specimens.) 

 /. Mouth small, the maxillary 3 in head ; no spines about the snout ; eye 

 3J in length ; interorbital width 3 in head (in types) ; pectoral short ; 

 curve of lateral line 6 times in straight part; color dark brown, with 

 numerous stellate white spots, the most distinct of them with darker 

 edgings; these generally scattered over the body, but some of them 

 on sides of body are gathered together in little rings. (Perhaps 

 these spots are bl ue rather than white in life. ) Fins mottled with dark 

 brown, the pectoral finely barred. Head 4 in length ; depth 1| ; D. 89, A. 

 05, scales 75. Specimens examined, 3J inches long..CoNSTELLATUS, 39. 

 ff. Mouth smaller, the maxillary 3£ in head ; eye 3J- in head ; interorbital 

 space 2f; teeth small, biserial above; arch of lateral line 2 in head. 

 Head 4 in length ; depth 1$. D. 85 to 90. A. 64 to 67. Lat. 1. 72 to 78. 

 Color light grayish, tinged with reddish, with small round spots of 

 darker gray, and with lighter rings inclosing spaces of the ground color ; 

 vertical fins, similarly colored, with a small black spot at base of each 

 9th or 10th ray ; two black spots on lateral line ; some other black 



spots on body and on caudal fin. Vertebrae, 37 Ocellatus, 40. 



ce. Scales smaller, 90 to 95 pores in the lateral line. Mouth small, oblique, 

 the maxillary 3| in head; teeth in both jaws in two irregular series; 

 arch of lateral line 2| in head. Head 4; depth If. D. 90 to 95. A. 

 70. Lat. 1. 90 to 95. Color of adult reddish gray, the body every- 

 where covered with rings formed of round, sky-blue spots, which are 

 not confluent and are not edged with black ; besides these, very few 

 detached spots or other blue markings; head with similar blue spots, 

 but no rings; area inclosed in the blue rings not different from the 

 ground color ; caudal with blue spots, other fins with none ; dorsal 

 and anal mottled; a large, diffuse, dusky spot at front of straight part 

 of lateral line, one better defined on middle of lateral line; a faint 

 one. farther back; pectorals grayish, with dark bars Maculifer, 41. 



