Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 963 



I, 5. Pectorals moderate. Caudal forked. Air bladder small. Pyloric 

 coeca 9 or 10. Three species kiiown, from the Atlantic and Pacific. 

 spine ; Ao^of, crest.) 



1361. CENTROLOPHUS NIGER (Gmolin). 

 (BLACKFISH ; BLACK RUFFE ; BORLASE.) 



Head 5 in total length ; depth 4 to 5. D. Ill, 35 to 38 ; A. Ill, 20 to 22; 

 vertebra 1 11 + 14 ; cceca 9. Maxillary reaching to below front of eye. Dor- 

 sal inserted above first third of pectoral. Scales minute, forming a sheath 

 along basal third of vertical fins. Dark brown, clouded or spotted with 

 paler. Coasts of southern Europe, not rare in rather deep water; one 

 specimen, 9 inches long, taken at Dennis, Massachusetts, in 1888. (niger, 

 black.) (Eu.) 



Perca nigra, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., 1321, 1788, Cornwall* 



Centrolophus liparix, Eisso, Eur. MSrid., in, 337, 1826, Nice. 



Centrolopltus tnnrio, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ix, 342, 1833, Mediterranean. 



Cenlrolophus i)ompilus^ CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ix, 334, 1833; not of LINNTKUS, 



who describes some very different fish as Coryphsena pompilus. 



Acenlrolophus inaculosm, NARDO, Prodr. Ichtli. Adriat., No. 62, Isis, Col. 478, 18'27, Adriatic. 

 Centrolophus niger, GUNTIIER, Cat. Fishes, n, 403; GOODE & BEAN, Ocean. Ichth., 214. 



440. PALINURICHTHYS, Bleeker 

 (BLACK RUDDER FISHES.) 



Palinurus, DE KAY, New York, Fauna: Fishes, 118, 1842, (perciformis) (preoccupied in Crustacea.) 

 Palinurlchthijs, BLEEKER, Enum. Spec. Pise. Arch. Ind., 22, November, 1859, (percif minis). 

 Palimtrirftthys, GILL. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., Jan., I860,* 20, (perciformis). 

 Puiumelas, GUNTHER, Cat., n, 485, June, 1860, (perciformis). 



Body oblong, ovate, moderately compressed. Profile very blunt and 

 convex. Mouth moderate; maxillary narrow, with a small supplemental 

 bone ; premaxillaries protractile, little movable. Jaws nearly equal, each 

 with about one series of small, slender teeth ; no teeth on vomer or pala- 

 tines. Preoperculum, interoperculum, and suboperculum finely serrated. 

 Gill rakers long ; gill membranes separate, free from the isthmus. Scales 

 small, smooth ; larger, thicker, and more adherent than in Stromateus. 

 Cheeks scaly. Fins rather low ; dorsal fin long, preceded by 6 to 8 short 

 subequal, rather strong spines, the last ones connected by membrane, the 

 others nearly free, all much lower than the soft rays ; anal fin similar but 

 shorter, preceded by 3 spines, which, like the dorsal spines, are nearly 

 embedded in thick skin ; vertical fins densely scaly toward their bases ; 

 caudal fin emarginate ; caudal peduncle stout ; ventral fins large, thoracic, 

 I, 5; pectoral fins moderate, rounded, or falcate. One species, differing 

 from the European genus Mupus Cocco (= Leirus Lowe) by the low, partly 

 free spines, and the small eye. (irafavovpoc, Palinurus, a pilot; fofWfj fish.) 



* " The paper in the Proc. Acad. was probably published earlier than Dr. Bleeker's but, happily, 

 the question is immaterial." Gill, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., xxi, 667, 1884. 



