Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1107 



a. Base of caudal with a distinct round blackish blotch (rarely wanting). 

 b. Base of soft dorsal without blackish saddle-like blotch. 



c. Opercle without dark spot; cheeks without evident dark dots; soft dorsal much 



higher than spinous; scales 28 to 30. IMBERBIS, 1499. 



cc. Opercle with a dark spot; cheeks dusted with dark points; soft dorsal half higher 



than spinous; scales 25. DOVII, 1500. 



bb. Base of soft dorsal with a distinct blackish saddle-like blotch extending downward on 



sides of body; scales 25. RETROSELLA, 1501. 



aa. Base of caudal without blackish blotch. 



d. Soft dorsal with a round black blotch below it and a similar one on caudal peduncle 

 above; scales 26. MACULATUS, 1502. 



eM. Soft dorsal and caudal peduncle without round black spots. 



e. Body with few black specks or none; a blackish bar between last rays of soft dorsal 



and anal; another on caudal peduncle. BINOTATUS, 1503. 



ee. Body covered everywhere with blackish dots, like fly specks; no other distinct 



markings; scales 25. PIGMENTARIUS, 1504. 



1499. APOGON IMBERBIS (Linnams). 

 (KINO OF THE MULLETS ; ALFONCINO; FUNCINITA.) 



Head 3fr; depth 3. D. VI-I, 9; A. II, 8; scales 28 to 30; vertebrae 

 10 + 15. Body ovate, moderately compressed; eye large; preopercle 

 finely serrate. Bright scarlet, with minute black specks; fins red, a 

 black blotch at base of caudal on each side, this sometimes wanting; 

 dark shades made of fine dots, usually present on each angle of caudal, 

 tips of second dorsal and anal, and between the eyes. Mediterranean and 

 neighboring waters ; once taken at Newport, Rhode Island,* and once 

 recorded from the island of Fernando de Noronha. (imberbis, without 

 beard, a character which distinguishes Apogon from Mulluts.) 



Mullus imberbis, LINN^.US, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 1758, 300, Malta; after ARTEDI. 



Apogon niber, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., in, 411, 1802, Malta. 



Ostorhinchusfleurieu, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 165, 1802, Equinoctial Ocean. 



t Dipterodon hexacanlhus, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 167, 1802, Equinoctial Ocean. 



fCentropomus auralus, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 273, 1802, Equinoctial Ocean; this 

 species, and the two preceding, based on notes and drawings of Cominerson, representing 

 some species of Apogon with a black bar at .base of caudal. 



Centropomus rufcens, SPINOLA, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat., x, 1806, 370, plate 28, fig. 2, Mediterra- 

 nean. 



Percapusilla, DE LA EOCHE, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat., xm, 1809, 318, Nice. 



Dipterodon ruber, RAFINESQUE, Caratteri, 47, 1810, Palermo. 



Apogon rex-mullorum, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., n, 14.'?, 1828, Marseilles; 

 Nice; Genoa; Ivi9a; Naples; Palermo. 



Apogonicltthys americanw, COPE, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1870, 120, Newport, Rhode Island ; 

 not of CASTELNAU. f 



Apogon imberbis, GUNTHER, Cat., i, 230, 1859. 



* Wrongly identified by Cope as Apogon americanus (Castelnau), a Brazilian species, not known 

 to occur north of Bahia. 



f The following description of the true Apogon americanus (Castelnau) is taken from a speci- 

 men from Bahia: Head equal to depth of body, 2| in length, maxillary 1% in head, eye 2%. 

 D. VI-I, 8; A. II, 8, scales 2-25-9. Gill rakers slender and long, about 8 +10 in number. 

 Preopercle very finely serrate above, mostly entire below, except near the angle, when its 

 surface is irregularly notched. Color red, nnuiarked, except for a diffuse dusky blotch made 

 up of dark points on the opercle, and some dark spots on snout and cheeks. No spot at base of 

 caudal, and no spot or marking anywhere on body or fins, except the dusty blotch on head. 



