Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 757 



4. The ventral shields are the interclavicles ; their posterior half is 

 broadest, much pitted inferiorly ; they are narrower before the middle, 

 lea v ing a free lanceolate space between them, and are again a little 

 widened anteriorly, where they join the clavicle and urohyal. These 

 plates extend as far backward as the anchylosed vertebras, (fistula, a 

 tube or pipe.) 



a. Upper lateral edges of snout with few serrations or none; body with blue spots. 



TABACARIA, 1106. 



aa. Upper lateral edges of snout sharply serrated; body with few blue spots, or none. 



b. Two middle ridges on snout well separated, diverging on anterior half of length of 

 snout, converging finally on its foremost part ; skin nearly smooth. 



DEPRES8A, 1107. 



bb. Two middle ridges on snout close together and parallel on anterior half of its length, 

 slowly converging forward from the middle; skin rough. PETIMBA, 1108. 



1106. FISTULARIA TABACARIA, Linnaeus. 

 (TRUMPET-FISH; TROMPETERO.) 



Head 2| ; mandible about 4 in snout ; snout 3f in length of body. D. 

 14 ; A. 13. Mouth slightly oblique, lower jaw the longer, overlapping the 

 upper ; snout much prolonged, tapering but little forward ; its edges with 

 fine serrations or none. Margin of orbit with sharp compressed points in 

 front and behind. Reddish brown above, variegated with numerous large, 

 unequal, oblong, pale-blue spots on the sides and back, arranged in series. 

 West Indies and neighboring seas, generally common ; occasional north- 

 ward to Carolina and Florida, or even to Long Island. Reaches a length 

 of 6 feet, (tabacarius, from tobacco; having the form of a pipe.) 



Petinibiiaba, MARCGRAVE, Hist. Brazil, 148, 1648. 



Fistularia tabacaria, LINNJEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 312, 1758, Tropical America; BLOCH, Ichthy- 



ologia, plate 387, fig. 1, 1791; VALENCIENNES, in CCVIER, Regne Animal, Illust. Poissons, pi. 



92, fig. 1, 1845 to 1850; GUNTHER, Cat., in, 629, 1861; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 389, 1883. 

 Fistularia neoboraccnsis, MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc., i, 1815, 437, New York. 

 Aulastome marcgravii, CASTELNAU, Anim. Nouv. Amer. Sud, 30, 1850, Bahia; Rio Janeiro. 

 Flagellariafistularis, GRONOW, Cat. Fish., 146, 1854, American Ocean. 



1107. FISTULARIA DEPRESSA, Giinther. 

 (CORNET A.) 



Head 2f ; depth 10 in head; snout 3 in body. D. 15; A. 14. Bones of 

 the head less deeply sculptured than in F. serrata, interorbital space 

 slightly concave with median ridges. Two middle ridges on upper surface 

 of snout not very close together, nearest together mesially; lateral margins 

 of snout slightly serrate, the anterior half entire; lower margins entire, 

 not showing from above, diverging again on the anterior half of length of 

 snout, converging again finally on the foremost part. Body much 

 depressed, nearly smooth, the skin being scarcely rough. Color nearly 

 plain brown, the blue spots wanting. Length 2 feet. Recorded from the 

 East Indies, Australia, China, Panama, and Lower California ; abundant 

 in the Gulf of California and southward to Panama, (depressus, depressed.) 



