540 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



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developed below the angle and from three to five rudiments; 

 scales large, those above in series parallel with the lateral line; 

 scales on breast small. Third dorsal spine extremely long,, 

 reaching beyond middle of soft dorsal; other spines all short 

 and even; soft dorsal moderate, a little scaly at base; dorsal 

 not notched; caudal truncate; second anal spine about one third 

 as long as the head, equal to third, and a little stouter; pectoral 

 about one half as long as the head. 



D. X, 13; A. Ill, 7; scales 6-48-15, pores 45 to 50; B. 6. 



Coloration in spirits brownish; a dark area from front of anal 

 up to soft dorsal; before this a whitish area; upper parts with 

 faint, interrupted dark streaks along the rows of scales ; a dark 

 band upward from middle of base of ventrals; fins clouded. 

 Length 10 inches. (After Jordan <& Evermanri) 



De Kay described a specimen 4| inches long as of a yellowish- 

 gray color, with three or more dusky vertical bands, and with 

 ventral fins tinged with blackish toward their tips. He re- 

 garded it as an accidental visitor from the tropics. The sub- 

 ject of his notes was an example seen several years prior to the 

 publication of his work in the collection of Mr Hamilton, who 

 informed him that it had been taken in the harbor of New York. 

 There appears to be no later record of the occurrence of the 

 species on our coast. De Kay refers to a specimen from 

 Jamaica, but the range is generally restricted to the coasts of 

 Brazil and Uruguay. 



Genus RYPTICUS Cuvier 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with very small, smooth, 

 embedded fcales. Lateral line normal; head scaly. Mouth 

 rather large, oblique, the lower jaw the longer; maxillary with 

 a supplemental bone, as in Epinephelus, with which 

 genus this form agrees in general osteology.; smooth area on 

 top of cranium very large, transversely convex, much longer 

 than the supraoccipital crest; interorbital area very narrow; 

 parietal and supraoccipital bones short, with feeble crests 

 which do not extend on the f rentals; premaxillaries reaching 

 f rentals, which have a fossa in front; teeth all villiform, in 



