2396 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



region. Gill apertures continuous under the throat, gill membrane free 

 from isthmus. Branchiostegals 6. Mouth moderate, the contour of the 

 upper jaw semicircular; upper jaw protruding- beyond the lower; lips 

 moderate, uniform and free, concealing the teeth. Teeth labial and mov- 

 able, very slender and recurved, contiguous and uniserial ; no posterior 

 canines. Dorsal fin divided; anal similar to soft dorsal; caudal obtusely 

 rounded; pectorals moderate, angularly rounded; veiitrals approximated, 

 each with 3 simple rays, the internal of which is smallest. This genus is 

 very close to the Old World genus, Salarias,* Cuvier, which differs in 

 having the dorsal tin continuous, as in Eupiscartes. (dndpr^g, one who 

 leaps; z^Qvs, fish.) 



2747. SCARTICHTHYS RUBROPUNCTATUS (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



Head 4; depth 4 (5 with caudal); D. XI-16; A. 20; eye 4 in head; 

 teeth less flexible than in Eupiscartes atlanticus ; no canine teeth ; the fore- 

 head not projecting beyond the mouth; a very small tentacle on the neck, 

 a longer fringed one above the orbit ; dorsal fin deeply notched, not extend- 

 ing on to the caudal. Color brown, marbled with black, and dotted with 

 reddish ; a black spot on the anterior part of the dorsal ; throat with 2 or 3 

 brownish cross bands; a jet-black spot behind eye, with a narrow edge 

 posteriorly. (Giinther.) Coast of Peru and Chile, north to Panama. 

 Specimens examined by us colle6ted by Prof. Frank H. Bradley at Pearl 

 Islands, near Panama, and at Callao. Length 3 inches, (ruler, red; 

 punetatus, spotted.) 



Salarias rubropunctatus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xi, 348, 183G, Juan 

 Fernandez (Coll. Claude Gay); GUNTHER, Cat., in, 249, 1861; JORDAN & GILBERT, 

 Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 628; not of KNER, Novara-Fische, 198. 



891. RUPISCARTES, Swainson. 



AlticusJ COMMERSON, in LACEPEDE, Hist, Nat. Poiss., II, 458, 1800 (saliens). 

 Alticus,\ CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist, Nat. Poiss., xi, 337, 1836 (alticus). 

 Eupucartes, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist, Class'n Aiiim., n, 275, 1839 (alticus). 



This genus, as here understood, differs from Salarias only in the presence 

 in 1 or both jaws of posterior canines. Dorsal fin continuous, without deep 

 notch. Vertebra? 12 + 22 = 34 (atlanticus). (rupes, rock; GKaprris, one 

 who leaps; Eupiscartes tridactylus (alticus), "said to jump on the sea rocks 

 like a lizard." Swainson.) 



* Salarias, CUVIER, Regne Anim., Ed. 2, n, 175, 1829 (quadripinnis) . Erpichthys, SWAIN- 

 SON, Nat. Hist. Class'n. Anim. n, 275, 1839 (quadripinnis, etc). (o-aAapia, a modern Greek 

 name of Blennius basilicus.) 



tWedo not think that the name Alticus can 1)6 substituted for Rupiscartes, because 

 Lac6pede does not adopt this genus of Commerson, but merges it in Blennius, quoting 

 Commerson's account as a footnote. This is as follows: "Alticus saltatorius, pinna spuria 

 in capitis vertice; seu pinnula longitudinal! pone oculos cartilaginea ; seu alticus desultor, 

 occipite cristato, ore circulare deorsum patulo." Apparently this quotation of a generic 

 description not approved, does not give priority to the latter. 



J This genus Alticus is not adopted by Cuvier & Valenciennes. Valenciennes speaks 

 of "un petit Salarias que nous parait etre celui-la merne sur lequel Commerson avaitetabli 

 son genre Alticus.^ But a genus is not established until it is accepted by some authority 

 as well as defined. 



