2282 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



Dorsal fiu low, continuous, the soft rays but little higher than the spines, 

 which are slender and flexible, the longest 3 in head; caudal short, 

 rounded, its length 5| in body; anal similar to soft dorsal; pectoral | as 

 long as head. Grayish olive, much variegated with yellowish and dark 

 olive; about 6 irregular dusky bands on the body, which extend on the 

 dorsal fin; whitish markings on body forming roundish spots, surrounded 

 by reticulations of grayish olive; head marbled, its posterior part, as well 

 as the sides of the back and pectoral base, with small blackish dots; mem- 

 brane lining inside of maxillary \vith 2 curved inky-black bands on a 

 white ground; angle of mouth with a black spot; lining of opercle black; 

 iius all variegated like the body. Florida Keys to Cuba. Here described 

 from the type of 0. scapliiurum, from Garden Key, but O. macroynathum 

 seems to be the same, (nanpo*?, long; yra'BoS, jaw.) 



Opisthognathus macrognathus* POEY, Memorias, n, 284, July, 1860, Cuba. (Coll. Poey.) 

 Opisthognathus megastoma, GUNTHER, Cat., II, 255, September, 1860, Gulf of Mexico. 



(Haslar Collection.) 

 Opisthognathus scaphiurvs, GOODE & BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 417, Garden Key, 



Florida (Type, No. 5936, U. S. Nat. Mus. Coll. Dr. Whitehurst) ; JORDAN & GILBERT, 



Synopsis, 943, 1883. 



2618. OPISTHOGNATHUS OMMATUM, Jenkins & Evermann. 



Head 3; width of head 5; depth 5; eye 3 in head. D. 28; A. 18; scales 

 about 140. Body moderate, compressed, depth 4-f; width behind the head 

 8] a in length of body. Head large, its breadth equaling its depth, being 

 5 in length of body. Scales small, embedded; head naked, lateral line 

 extending past middle of dorsal fin. Mouth large. Maxillary long, 1 in 

 head; postorbital portion 2-fo in head, not extending beyond head; snout 

 short, its length less than -J diameter of eye; distance from tip of snout 

 to end of maxillary 3^- in length of body and 1^ in head. Teeth in front 

 part of each jaw in several series, on sides of jaws reduced to a single 

 series, the outer series strong; a tooth on the vomer; gill membranes 

 connected; the interorbital space very narrow, llf in head. Distance 

 from snout to origin of dorsal but little greater than length of head ; 

 space between dorsal and caudal fins \ greater than length of snout; no 

 depression between spinous and soft rays of dorsal fin, the dorsal equal- 

 ing the anal in height, its longest ray If times the eye; pectorals slightly 

 longer than ventrals, being 2 in head; breadth of pectorals 3 in head; 

 ventrals inserted slightly in front of pectorals; caudal rounded and nar- 

 row. Coloration : Body irregularly mottled with dark, head evenly black- 

 ish ; dorsal fin blackish on the posterior portion, with 2 rows of 4 or 5 pale 

 spots well separated; a large ocellated spot from the third to the sixth 

 spines, including them, greater than diameter of eye; anal fin black, with 

 a series of pale spots on the rays, the base pale ; caudal black, with 2 pale 



*Poey thus describes his specimens of Opisthognathus macrognathum : "Head 3J in 

 total ; depth 5 ; eye nearly 4, twice length of snout, 3 times interorbital width. D. XI, 16 ; 

 A. II, 16. Vomer with 2 teeth ; spines not pungent. Body covered with large yellowish 

 points on a brown ground; 7 broad brown bands on sides, not reaching belly, but extend- 

 ing to middle of dorsal, which, like the anal, has yellow points ; a large black ocellus 

 between sixth and ninth spines of dorsal; maxillary with 2 ink-black bands on a milk- 

 white ground ; pectorals, ventrals, and caudal yellowish with black points. No pyloric 

 ca3ca ; vertebrae 10 + 24 = 34, the first 5 strong." (Poey.) 



