2496 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



these canine-like. Pectoral head ; vent under base of pectoral. Dorsal 

 fin low, but distinct ; anal much more developed than dorsal, its longest rays 

 about in the middle of the fish. Air bladder long, slightly constricted 

 behind. Gill membranes not covering isthmus. Color in spirits, uniform 

 light brown, with a short silvery band along the sides of the abdomen 

 made by confluent spots. (Putnam, description of F. dubius.) Panama; 

 especially common among the Pearl Islands, chiefly in shells of pearl 

 oysters. This species should probably stand as Fierasfer affinis. 



The following notes are from numerous specimens, 3 to.4 inches long, 

 from Pearl Islands, collected by Prof. Bradley, these also being types of 

 Fierasfer dubius: Head 6 to 7 ; eye 4| to 5 in head. Teeth in upper jaw 

 small, acute, in a rather narrow band; sometimes a few in the front of the 

 jaw inconspicuously enlarged; those in lower jaw and on palatines conic, 

 blunt, in somewhat wider bands, the outer series of lower jaw enlarged, 

 canine-like; vomer with a narrowly oblong patch of small, blunt teeth, 

 surrounding a median series of 3 to 6 conspicuously enlarged, retrorsely 

 curved canines, which are usually much the largest teeth in the mouth. 

 Two specimens from Albatross Station 3021, Lower California, agree in 

 general with the above account: Head 7; depth 11; eye 4; 2 upper 

 teeth 011 each side somewhat enlarged, about as large as lateral teeth on 

 mandibles; vomerine canines larger. Professor Putnam refers also to 

 Fierasfer dubius specimens from Key Biscayne, Florida (Coll. Theodore 

 Lyman); Tortugas (Coll. Gustav Wiirdemann) ; Cape Florida (Coll. 

 Wiirdemann), and New Providence, Bahama (Coll. F. G. Shaw). These 

 specimens apparently belong rather to Fierasfer bermudensis, if that species 

 be different, (affinis^ related, to Fierasfer acus.) 



? Fierasfer affinis,* GUNTHER, Cat., rv, 381, 1862, no locality given. 



Fierasfer dubius, PUTNAM, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1874,344, Pearl Islands (Coll. Prof. 



Frank H. Bradley); JOKDAN & GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1882,629; JORDAN & 



GILBERT, Synopsis, 791, 1883. 



2868. FIERASFER ARENICOLA, Jordan & Gilbert. 



Head 6 in length ; depth 10; eye 5 in head; snout 5. Body with nape 

 slightly elevated, thence tapering regularly to the tail. Snout blunt, 

 rounded, protruding; mouth subinferior, nearly horizontal, large, 

 the lower jaw included; gape wide, the maxillary $ length of head, 

 extending beyond vertical from orbit; teeth in upper jaw very small, 

 acute, in a narrow band, none of them enlarged; those in lower jaw and 

 on vomer blunt, conic, in a wide band; those in outer series acute; a 

 few on each side of mandible and 2 or 3 anteriorly on vomer, enlarged, 

 canine-like. Gill openings very wide, the branchiostegal membranes 

 little united, leaving nearly all of isthmus uncovered ; the membranes 



* Fierasfer affinis, Giinther, is thus described : 



" The length of the head is J of the total; its greatest width is rather less than of its 

 length. Gill openings ratber wide, the united gill membranes leaving the greater por- 

 tion of the isthmus uncovered. Teeth cardiform; a pair in front of the upper jaw, a 

 series on the side of the lower, and several others on the votuer larger than the rest. 

 Dorsal fin low but very distinct. The length of the pectoral nearly \ that of the head. 

 (This species is) similar to F. acus, but with a very different dentition.'' (Giinther.) 

 Described from a specimen 8 inches long, from unknown locality. This description, so 

 far as it goes, agrees with Fierasfer dubius, but the specimen may not be American. 



