1232 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



doubted. It is not unlikely that the species is identical with Eypticus 

 xanti. Possibly it is a deeper-water form, analogous to the red forms of 

 certain species of Mycteroperca. The plate of this species (issued in 1846) 

 is named "Rhypticus bicolor," the name Smecticus licolor appearing in the 

 later text (1855). (bicolor, two-colored.) 



Smecticus bicolor, VALENCIENNES, Voyage de la Venus, Poissons, 307, pi. n, fig. 2, 1855, Galapa- 

 gos Archipelago. 



Rhypticus bicolor, GUNTHER, Cat., i, 173. 

 Eypticus bicolor, JORDAN & EIGENMANN, I. c., 339, 1890. 



1618. RYPTICUS SAPONACEUS (Bloch & Schneider). 



(SOAPFISH ; JABON ; JABONCILLO.) 



Head 3 to 3i in length; depth 2f to 3. D. Ill, 23 to 25; A. 16 or 17; 

 scales 85 to 90 (pores). Body comparatively deep ; young more slender; 

 back elevated ; snout rather pointed ; lower jaw much projecting ; ante- 

 rior profile before eye a little concave ; eye 4i to 5 in head ; maxillary 

 reaching posterior edge of eye, 2 in head ; preopercle with 2 straight 

 spines behind ; opercle with 3 spines, the middle one largest and nearer 

 the upper than the lower; first and second dorsal spines subequal, the 

 third smallest ; dorsals slightly connected ; ventrals very small, not half 

 longer than eye; pectorals rounded; gill rakers very small and short, 

 about 8 developed. Color dusky brown, fins marked with blackish and 

 usually with a narrow pale edge; sides generally- with irregular pale 

 spots; back and head usually immaculate. West Indies, Pensacola to 

 West Africa and Brazil; generally common. The best-known and most 

 widely distributed of the soapfishes. Our specimens are from Havana, 

 Pensacola, and Bahia. The young specimens are much slenderer in form 

 and more uniform in color than the adult, (saponaceus, soapy.) 



Jaboncillo, PARRA, Difer. Piezas de Hist. Nat., 51, lam. 24, fig. 2, 1787, Havana. 

 Anthias saponaceus, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth., 310, 1801, Havana (after PARRA). 

 Rhypticus microps, CASTELNAU, Anim. Nouv. ou Rares de 1'Amer. du Sud, 6, 1855, Bahia (after 



Perca microps, BROUSSONET, a MS. name). 

 Rhypticus saponaceus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., in, 63, 1829; GUNTHER, Cat., I, 



172, 1859; POEY, Synopsis, 297, 1868; BOULENGER, Cat., i,348. 

 Eypticus saponaceus, JORDAN & EIGENMANN, I. c., 340, 1890. 



1619. RYPTICUS ARENATUS,* Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



" This fish, which is known only from young specimens, differs from the 

 young E. saponaceus in the larger eye, which exceeds the length of the 

 snout and is less than J the length of the head, and the smaller number 

 of tubes in the lateral line (67 instead of 85 to 90). Gray or pale brown, 

 with blackish dots or small round spots; fins pale. Total length 65 milli- 

 meters." (Boulenger; from Bahia examples.) West Indies and coast of 



*The scanty description of a young example published by Gill, under the name of Rhypticus 

 subbifrenatus, seems to approach very closely to R. arenatus. The following is the substance of 

 Dr. Gill's account of R. subbifrenatus: Color dusky, with remote dark spots; head with 2 series 

 of spots; one series of 4 between orbit and opercular spine; the other of 3 smaller spots between 

 eye and suprascapula; head 2|in length (3% with caudal); depth 3% (4% with caudal). D. Ill, 

 23; A. 15. 



