84 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



(EXTRALIMITAL.) 



M. undulatus. (Cnv. et Vai. Vol. 5, p. 219. Catesby, Vol. 2, pi. 3, fig. 1.) Obscure brownish 

 spots on the back ; no lines nor bands. Length thirteen inches. New Orleans, Charleston. 

 According to Schoepfij ascends the Chesapeake, and occasionally Delaware bay. 



GENUS HEMULON. Cuvier. 



A single dorsal emarginate fin. Seven branchial rays. An oval cavity and two small pores 

 under the chin. Ventral fins scaly. Preopercle denticulated. 



THE SPECKLED RED-MOUTH. 



HeMDLON rULVO-MACULATUM. 

 PLATE vn. FIG. 21. — (CABINET OF THE LYCEUM.) 

 Labrus fidvo-maailatus, Speckled GnmU. MiTCH. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 406. 



Characteristics. Small ; with yellowish horizontal stripes below the lateral line, and oblique 

 stripes above it. Length five inches. 



Description. Body compressed ; back rounded. Height one-third ofits total length. Scales 

 moderate, subquadrate, truncated in front with radiating plaits ; free portion rounded, reti- 

 culate near the margin, which is minutely ciliate ; form a sheath on each side of the dorsal 

 and anal fins. A scaly fold under the base of the pectorals. Eyes 0*3 in diameter. Ante- 

 rior nostril largest, with a raised margin. Teeth minute, conic, acute, bent at the tips, and 

 disposed in cards in both jaws ; the anterior series slightly longest. Minute teeth on the 

 pharyngeals. Tongue thin and free. 



Dorsal fin with twelve spinous and fifteen slightly branched rays ; the first slightly shortest, 

 the three following gradually longer ; the soft portion rather higher than the other. The 

 pectoral fins long and pointed, composed of eighteen rays ; the first rudimentary ; the sixth 

 longest, reaching to the tenth spinous dorsal ray. Ventral fins just behind the base of the 

 pectorals, and without a scaly fold. The first spine of the anal fin very short, the second 

 and third longer and subequal. Caudal fin of seventeen rays, and covered with minute scales ; 

 crescent-shaped ; the upper lobe longest. 



Color. I am only acquainted with this through a cabinet specimen, the identical one from 

 which Mitchill drew up his description. As this was recent, I annex his account of the dis- 

 position of the colors : Bluish silvery. Above the lateral line, rows of yellow speckled stripes, 

 almost parallel with each other, which run obliquely towards the dorsal fin ; below it, simOar 

 rows extended nearly in a horizontal direction from the branchial aperture to the tail. Belly 

 and chin more pale and whitish than the back. Cheeks with the ochreous streaks which dis- 



