1126 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



to C. mexicanus, but the dorsal spines more slender and shorter and the 

 body deeper. Known from 3 specimens collected at Bahia, Brazil, by 

 the Albatross. The one here described is 8i inches long and numbered 

 1633 on the register of Stanford University. Two others are in the U. S. 

 National Museum, numbered 43289. (Constantino, a Spanish vernacular 

 name of the smaller Rolalos or Eobalitos. ^ 



Family CXLVI. SERRANIDJE. 

 (THE SEA BASS.) 



Body oblong, more or less compressed, covered with adherent scales of 

 moderate 01 small size, which are usually but not always ctenoid ; dorsal 

 and ventral outlines usually not perfectly corresponding. Mouth moder- 

 ate or large, not very oblique, the premaxillary protractile and the broad 

 maxillary usually not slipping for its whole length into a sheath formed 

 by the preorbital, which is usually narrow. Supplemental maxillary 

 present or absent. Teeth all conical or pointed, in bands, present on 

 jaws, vomer and palatines. Gill rakers long or short, usually stiff, armed 

 with teeth. Gills 4, a long slit behind the fourth. Pseudobranchiae 

 present, large. Lower pharyngeals rather narrow, with pointed teeth, 

 separate (except in Centrogenys). Gill membranes separate, free from the 

 isthmus. Branchiostegals normally 1 (occasionally 6). Cheeks and 

 opercles always scaly ; preopercle with its margin more or less serrate, 

 rarely entire ; the opercles usually ending in one or two flat spine-like 

 points. Nostrils double. Lateral line single, not extending on the cau- 

 dal fin. Skull without cranial spines and usually without well-developed 

 cavernous structure. No suborbitalstay. Post-temporal normal. Second 

 suborbital with an internal lamina supporting the globe of the eye ; 

 entopterygoid present ; all or most of the ribs inserted on the transverse 

 processes when these are developed; anterior vertebrae without trans- 

 verse processes. Dorsal spines usually stiff, 2 to 15 in number ; soft dor- 

 sal with 10 to 30 rays ; anal fin rather short, its soft rays 7 to 12, its spines, 

 if present, always 3, in certain genera ( Grammislince, Ryptidnce) altogether 

 wanting. Ventrals thoracic, usually I, 5 (I, 4, in Plesiopince), normally 

 developed, without distinct axillary scale. Pectorals well developed, 

 with narrow base, the rays branched. Caudal peduncle stout, the fin 

 variously formed. Vertebras typically 10 + 14 = 24, the number some- 

 times increased, never more than 35.* Air bladder present, usually small, 



* The following account of the numbers of vertebrae is taken from Dr. Boulenger's Catalogue 

 of Teleostean Fishes; the nomenclature of certain species is changed to agree with that of the 

 the present work: 



Percichthys trucha 15 + 20 = 35 



Percichthys pocha _ 14 + 19 = 33 



Percilia gillissii 13 + 22 = 35 



Lateolabrax japonicus 17 + 18 = 35 



Niphon spinosus 14 + 17 = 31 



Morone americana 12 + 13 = 25 



Roccus chrysops 12 + 13 = 25 



Dicentrarchus labrax 12 + 13 = 25 



Percalates colonorum 11 + 14 = 25 



Ctenolates ambiguus 11 + 15 = 26 



Siniperca chuatsi 13 + 15 = 28 



Acanthistiua pictus 10 + 16 = 26 



Acanthistius serratus 10 + 16 = 26 



Hemilutjanus macrophthal- 

 mus 10 + 15 = 25 



Centrogenys vaigiensis 11 + 14 = 25 



Polyprion americanus 13 + 14 = 27 



Polyprion prognathus 14 + 13 = 27 



Oligorus macquariensis 16 + 19 = 35 



Aulacocephalus temminckii 10 + 14 = 24 



Plectropoma maculatum 10 + 14 = 24 



Variola louti 10 + 14 = 24 



Bodianus guttatus 10 + 14 = 24 



Bodianus punctatus 10 + 14 = 24 



