70 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



the end of the jaw. Scales small, ciliate, covering the head and body. Lateral line distinct, 

 and concurrent with the back. Jaws equal. Teeth so minute as to be visible only with a 

 lens. Preopercle minutely denticulate. 



The first dorsal triangular, with its first ray short, and equal to its last ; the third, fourth 

 and fifth rays longest ; separated by a very short interval from the second dorsal, which is 

 long and low, its rays (except the first) equal, and ending posterior to the termination of the 

 anal. Pectorals long, scaly at the base, and composed of twenty branched rays. Ventrals 

 shghtly behind the pectorals, with one short and five branched rays. Anal excavated on its 

 margin ; its anterior spine almost concealed in the skin. Caudal fin lunate, covered high up 

 with small scales. 



Color. Whitish, with from twelve to eighteen dark greyish bars directed obliquely forward, 

 more vertical behind. Irides yellow ; pupils black. Fins yellowish ; dorsal and anal fins 

 minutely punctate with black. A round blackish brown spot on each side, more or less dis- 

 tinct, on the lateral line, above the base of the pectorals. 



Length, 6-0 -8-0. Of head, 1-6 - 1 '8. Depth, 2-0 - 2-5. 

 Fin rays, D. 9.1.30; P. 20; V. 15; A. 2.12; C. 19. 



This beautiful little fish, which furnishes a delicate article of food, is usually rare in our 

 waters, but visits us in almost incredible numbers at irregular and generally distant intervals. 

 One of these visits happened to coincide with the arrival of the great and the good La Fayette 

 at New- York, in the summer of 1824. His name was unanimously given to a fish, which 

 was considered as entirely new, and this name it still retains. It must be very common on 

 the southern coast, but I cannot find that it has in those parts received any popular name. If 

 I am correct in supposing that the S. multifasciata of Lesueur, described from a dried spe- 

 cimen, is identical with the Lafayette, it is common on the coast of Florida. Thus far, there 

 is reason to believe that the coast of New- York forms its extreme northern geographic limits. 

 I see no good reason for changing the prior and characteristic name given to it by Dr. 

 Mitchill. 



{EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



L. xanihurus. (Cuv.. et Val. Vol.5, p. 142.) Unspotted; without bands. Fins, and especially the 

 caudal, yellow. D. 11.1.32; A. 2.13. Length six or eight inches. South-Carolina. 



