724 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



1074. EULEPTORHAMPHUS TELOX, Poey. 



Head 6; depth 10; mandible about 3. D. 22; A. 21; V. 6. Body 

 extremely slender and elongated, much compressed, almost band-like. 

 Back thin, subcarinate. Lower jaw very slender and long, much longer 

 than the rest of the head. Teeth very feeble, the lower tricuspid. Eye 

 large, about equal to snout, about 3 in head. Pectoral fins long and 

 slender, half as long as mandible, more than \ the length of body ; upper 

 rays of pectorals broad and compressed; ventrals not longer than eye, 

 inserted far back ; caudal fin unequally forked, the lower lobe the longer. 

 Olivaceous; sides silvery. Length 18 inches. West Indies, occasionally 

 northward in the Gulf Stream to Massachusetts; rare.* Perhaps identi- 

 cal with the East Indian species, Euleptorhamphus longirostris, as supposed 

 by Putnam and others, but no adequate t comparison of specimens of the 

 two species has been made, (velox, swift.) 



f? Hemirhamphus longirostris, CUVIER, Regne Anim., Ed. 2, Vol. 2, 286, 1829, Pondicherry. 



f? Hemirhamphus macrorhynchus, CUVIER & VALKNCIENNF.S, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xix, 55, pi. 556, 



1846, open sea, 177 E., 7 S. 



f Euleptorhamphus brevoorti, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 131, no locality. 

 Euleptorhamphus velox, POEY, Synopsis, 383, 1867, Cuba; D. 19; A. 21. 

 ? Hemirhamphus longirostris and H. macrorhynchus, GUNTHER, Cat., vi, 276, 1866. 

 Euleptorhamphus longirostris,l PUTNAM, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1870, 238; JORDAN & GILBERT, 



Synopsis, 377, 1883. 



Family XCVI. SCOMBRESOCID^E. 

 (THE SAURIES.) 



Body elongate, compressed, covered with small, thin, deciduous scales, 

 the general aspect being that of a mackerel. Both jaws in the adult 

 more or less prolonged, forming a slender beak, the upper jaw always the 

 longer; teeth very feeble, pointed; maxillaries joined fast to premaxil- 

 laries ; pectoral and ventrals small ; dorsal and anal low, similar to each 

 other, each with 4 to 6 detached finlets, as in the Scombridce', gill rakers 

 numerous, long and slender. Pharyngeal bones essentially as in Exoccctus; 

 fourth upper pharyngeal on each side wanting or fused with the third; 

 third pharyngeal greatly enlarged, separate from its fellow, covered with 

 tricuspid teeth ; second with simple teeth ; first toothless ; lower pharyn- 

 geals united, forming a triangular bone with concave surface, covered 

 with tricuspid teeth ; into the hollow of this bone the upper pharyngeals 

 fit. Species four or five, here arranged in two genera ; pelagic fishes, swim- 

 ming close to the surface in large schools in temperate regions. They 

 bear strong analogical resemblances to the mackerels in form, color, and 



*Lonnberg found a specimen on the beach at New Smyrna, Florida. 



t Professor Putnam identifies the American species with the East Indian E. longirostris. Poey 

 counts D. 19; A. 21; Valenciennes, D. 22; A. 20. 



JPoey thus describes Euleptorhamphus velox, comparing it with Cuvier's account of E 

 longirostris: 



Height of body 10% in length of trunk from gill opening to base of caudal; head 5% in 

 trunk; beak 4 in total length; eye 3% in head; pectorals 3% in length of trunk; base of dorsal 

 as broad as pectoral; anal a little less,' and farther back; dorsal rays as hi.ch as the trunk below 

 them; lower caudal lobe much the longer. D. 19; A. 21. Silvery; back bluish; fins pale. (In 

 E. longirostris the height^as above goes 16 times; head 6; beak 4; eye 3 in head; pectorals 3|, 

 broader than dorsal; dorsal rays twice depth of body below it. D. 22; A. 20.) 



