Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 721 



1070. HYPORHAMPHTJS ROBERTI (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 

 (COMMON HALFBEAK; PAJARITO.) 



Head 4 without, or 2 with mandible; depth about 7. D. 14 to 

 16; A. 15 to 17; scales 54; vertebne 34 -f 17 51. Lower jaw (from 

 front of eye) 4 to 4i in length from tip of snout to base of caudal. 

 Premaxillary plate rather broader than long ; eye 3f to 4 in head, nearly 

 equal to interorbital space, \\ in postovbital part of head. Ventrals 

 inserted nearly midway between eye and base of caudal ; dorsal and anal 

 scaly, opposite each other and similar in form ; caudal moderately forked, 

 the middle rays half longer than the eye. Back rounded above. Trans- 

 lucent green above ; the scales above dark-edged ; sides with a well- 

 defined silvery band, narrower than the eye, about as broad as a scale; 

 tip of lower jaw red ; 3 narrow dark streaks along middle of back ; ante- 

 rior rays, of dorsal and anal and tips of caudal usually dusky, sometimes 

 jet black, especially in Pacific Coast examples, which have darker fins 

 than those from the Atlantic. Peritoneum black, as in most herbivorous 

 fishes. An excellent food-fish. Length 12 inches. Coasts of America 

 on sandy shores, swimming in schools, and often pursued by the blue- 

 fish and other predatory species ; on the Atlantic Coast it is found chiefly 

 north of the Tropic of Cancer, but extending to the Equator on the Pacific 

 Coast. Very close to the preceding, of which it may be a northern variety 

 or subspecies. It is recorded from Newport, R. I., Longport and Beesleys 

 Point, N. J., Beaufort, N. C., Charleston, Pensacola, San Sebastian River, 

 Cedar Keys, New Orleans, Mazatlan, Guaymas, Cape San Lucas, La Paz, 

 Panama, and Indefatigable Islands and Chatham of the Galapagos. It 

 seems to be common on both coasts, especially in northern Florida, and 

 about Cape San Lucas. It h-as not been found among the Florida Keys 

 or in Cuba. On the Pacific Coast its range is not limited to the region 

 outside the Tropics. This species has been called Hemiramphus roberti, 

 but as the type came from Cayenne, the scanty description may have 

 been based on a specimen of H. unifasciatus. As type of our present 

 description, we take a specimen from Indefatigable Island. (Named for 

 M. Robert, who collected at Cayenne for Valenciennes.) 

 HemirhampJms roberli, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xix, 24, 1846, Cayenne; 



said to have a longer beak than H. picarti; possibly based on specimens of H. unifasciatus; 



(Coll. Poiteau & Robert); GUNTH-EU, Cat., vi, 263, 1866; MKEK & Goss, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. 



Phila., 1884, 223. 

 Hemirhamphus unifa.iciatus, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 376, 1883. 



1071. HYPORHAMPHUS KOS i: (Jordan & Gilbert). 



Head 2 with lower jaw, or 5 with upper ; length of lower jaw beyond 

 the upper 4 in head. D. 14; A. 14; scales 61 to 63. Lower jaw (from 

 tip of upper) 44- in length from its tip to base of caudal. Head with- 

 out mandible 3* in length from tip of upper jaw. Premaxillary 

 plate about as broad as long. Eye less than interorbital space, about 

 half postorbital part of head. Ventrals inserted farther back than in 

 H. roberti, rather nearer tip of caudal than eye, a very little nearer 

 F. N. A. 47 



