Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 723 



lobe of dorsal and upper lobe of caudal deep orange yellow ; ventrals 

 tipped with yellow ; sexes alike. Length 15 inches. West Indies, gen- 

 erally abundant from Key West southward to Bahia ; this or some closely 

 related species also occurring at Panama. Common at Key West and 

 Havana; a specimen taken at Hunger's Wharf, Virginia, by Dr. J. T. Wil- 

 kins ; a good food-fish, well distinguished by its orange caudal fin. 



E*ox maxilla inferlre pmtlucta, BROWNE, Hist. Jamaica, 443, 1756, Jamaica. 



Esox brasiliensis, IINN.I.US, Syst. Nat., Eel. \, 1758, 314, Jamaica; after BROWNE; the Timucuof 



Marcgrave wrongly included in the synonymy; BLOCK, Ichth., 391, 1801, corrected synon- 



ymy and description. 

 Hemirhamphus marginatus, LE SUEUE, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., n, 1823, 135, Lesser Antilles; 



not of FORSK!L. 

 Hemirhamphus browni,* CUVIEB <fe VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xix,.13, 1846, Guadaloupe; 



Martinique. 

 Hemirhamphus pltii, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, I. c., 19, Martinique; San Domingo; GUNTHER, 



Cat., vi, 369, 1866; MEEK & Goss, Proc. Ac. Nat, Sci. Phila., 1884, 225. 

 MacrognatJms brevirostris, GRONOW, Cat., 148, 1854, Jamaica; after BROWNE. 

 Hemirhamphus filamentosus, POEY, Memorias, 11, 297, 1861, Cuba. 

 Hemirhamphus brasiliensis, GUNTHER, Cat., vi, 270, 1866; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 224, 1883. 



1073. HEMIRAMPHUS BALAO, Le Sueur. 

 (BALAO ; PIPER.) 



Head with lower jaw 2f- in total length with caudal; depth 7-$-. D. 11 

 to 14 ; A. 11 or 12 ; vertebrae 39 -f- 16. Lower jaw 5y times in length of 

 body, greater than rest of head. Eye 4 to 4 in head (from tip of 

 upper jaw ). Scales moderate, caducous. Pectoral length equal to 1^ times 

 depth of body; last ray of dorsal and anal slightly produced ; anal very 

 short. Back bluish; tip of lower jaw red; upper lobe of caudal dirty 

 violet. Length 12 inches. Cuba. (Poey.) According to Poey this species 

 has smaller scales, smaller eye, shorter beak, slenderer body and slightly 

 longer pectorals than the preceding, and the upper lobe of the caudal 

 differently colored. We have not seen it and do not know whether it is 

 distinct. If a valid species, this must be the original balao, which is said 

 to have the caudal bluish, and the common species will stand as H. 

 brasiliensis. (Balao, a common Spanish name of species of this genus, 

 from a word meaning to leap or dance.) 



Hemirhamphus balao, LE SUEUR, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., u, 1823, 136, Lesser Antilles. 

 Hemirhamphus macrochirus, POEY, Memorias, n, 299, 1861, Cuba. 



329. EULEPTORHAMPHUS, Gill. 



Evleplorhannjhns, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 131, (brevoorti). 



This enus consists of pelagic species related to Hemiramplms, the body 

 much more slender and greatly compressed, and the pectorals very long, 

 approaching those of the flying-fishes. Ventrals small, inserted pos- 

 teriorly. Air bladder not described, probably cellular. One species in 

 our limits. (ev/lfTrroo, very slender; ba^tio^, beak.) 



*The types of Uemirhawphu* Imtnil (Museum at Paris; Martinique, PKV) liavc 52 scales in a 

 lengthwise series; no 65, as stated by Valenciennes. The nominal species called pUii &ndjila- 



entosus are identical with it. 



