MULLID^E. LXVII. 141 



orbital with a silvery streak. Head 4| ; depth 2. D. XIT, 12. 

 A. Ill, 11. Scales 10-66-20. L. 24. West Indies, rarely N. to 

 Cape Cod. (Pimel. bosqui Lacepede.) (Lat., one who cuts.) 



FAMILY LXVII. MULLID^3. (THE SURMULLETS.) 



Body elongate, with large, ctenoid scales ; head with large scales ; 

 profile of head blunt ; mouth small, the teeth various ; premaxil- 

 laries protractile ; maxillary simple, partly hidden by the broad 

 preorbitals ; throat with two long barbels. Dorsals two, well sep- 

 arated, the first of about 7 high spines, the second short ; A. short, 

 with two small spines ; V. and gill structures normal. Tropical 

 seas, 5 genera and 35 species, rather small, carnivorous fishes 

 mostly valued as food. 



a. Teeth in lower jaw and on vomer and palatines; none in upper jaw; in- 

 terorbital space flat and broad; opercle without spine. MULLUS, 172. 



172. MULLUS (Artedi) Linnaeus. (Ancient name from /uvAXor, 



lip.) 



386. M. surmuletus L. SURMULLET. Red : sides with three 

 yellow stripes ; barbel 1^ in head, reaching beyond lower anterior 

 angle of opercle ; eye smallish, 5 in head. Head 3 ; depth 4. 

 D. VII- 1, 8. A. II, 6. Lat. 1. 36. L. 10. Europe, one of the 

 most esteemed of food fish, very rarely taken on our coast. (Wood's 

 Holl ; N". Y. ; Pensacola.) Our form (var. auratus Jordan & Gil- 

 bert) differs slightly from the European. (Eu.} (Low Lat., 

 " above mullets.") 



FAMILY LXVIII. SCI^E3NID^3. (THE DRUMS.) 



Body elongate, more or less, with weakly ctenoid scales. Lat- 

 eral line continuous to the end of caudal fin. Head covered with 

 scales ; cranium cavernous, the muciferous system highly developed, 

 surface of the skull very uneven ; chin with pores ; mouth and 

 teeth various ; maxillary without supplementary bone, slipping be- 

 neath preorbital ; premaxillaries protractile ; gills and gill struc- 

 tures normal. D. deeply notched, its soft part long ; A. short, with 

 1 or 2 spines ; V. normal. Ear bones very large. Vertebrae about 

 24 ; air-bladder usually large and complicated, its structure enabling 

 the fish to make grunting or drumming sounds. Carnivorous fishes, 

 most of them valued as food. Genera 25 ; species 130, in all warm 

 seas, some genera confined to fresh waters. 



a. Vertebrae typically 14 + 10, the number in the abdominal region always 

 greater than that in the caudal ; lower jaw prominent ; teeth not villi- 

 form ; preopercle entire; anal spines very weak. (Otolithince.) 

 b. Anal moderate of 7 to 13 raj's, its length not half that of soft D. ; tip of 

 upper jaw with (usually) 2 pointed canines; none at tip of lower. 



CYNOSCION, 173. 



