1334 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



us from Mazatlan, Panama, Rio Zanatenco, and Chiapas. (A personal 

 name. ) 



Pristipoma branicki, STEINDACHNER, Deiikschr. kaiserl. Akad. Wiss. AVien, xn, 28, 1879, 



Tumbez, Peru. 

 Pomadasis branicki, JORDAN & FESLKR, I. c., 493; JORDAN, Fishes of Siualoa, 462, 1895. 



1706. POMADASLS RAMOSUS (Poey). 



Head 3 to 3|; depth 3| to 3f. D. XIII, 11 or 12; A. Ill, 6 or 7; scales 

 6-54-14; eye 3^ in head; preorbital 5^ to 8 ; snout 3f; maxillary 3; pec- 

 toral li; fourth dorsal spine 1J to 2 ; second anal spine 1; soft dorsal 2 in 

 spinous. Body very long and low, compressed, the back little elevated ; 

 anterior profile irregular, straightish over snout, slightly convex above 

 eye, occiput concave, convex at nape; mouth moderate, the maxillary 

 reaching to front of pupil; preopercle and scapula very coarsely serrated, 

 those at angle of preopercle almost spiny ; eye large ; base of soft dorsal 

 and anal naked or slightly scaly; dorsal fin only slightly notched, the 

 soft part about half as long as spiny portion; dorsal spines very strong; 

 second anal spine very long, reaching beyond tips of last rays; pectoral 

 short; caudal truncate. Color metallic grayish-golden, silvery below, 

 with indistinct lengthwise streaks and bands; fins dusky.* Length one 

 foot. West Indies, south to Brazil ; not very common, (ramosus, branched, 

 the soft rays of the ventrals being much branched.) 



Pristipoma ramosum, POEY, Memorias, n, 188, 1860, Havana. 



Pristipoma boucardi, STEINDACHNER, Ichth. Notizen, ix, 1, 1869, Gulf of Mexico. 



Pomadasis ramosus, JORDAN & FESLER, I. c., 494. 



546. ORTHOPRISTIS, Girard. 



(PlGFISHES.) 



Orthopristis, GIRARD, TJ. S. Mex. Bound. Survey, Zool., Fishes, 15, 1859 (duplex =chrysop- 



terus) . 



Pristocantharus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 256 (cantharinus) . 

 Evapristis, JORDAN & EVERMANN, Check-List, 388, 1896 (lethopristis) . 



Body moderately elongate, compressed, the back arched; head com- 

 pressed, the snout usually long; mouth rather small, placed low; teeth 

 in jaws in villiform bands, the outer teeth above somewhat enlarged; eye 

 moderate; preopercle with its vertical limb straight, finely serrate or 

 entire ; gill rakers rather long and slender ; dorsal spines rather slender, 12 

 or 13 in number, the fin usually not much notched ; soft dorsal long and low, 

 usually with 15 or 16 rays, the membranes usually naked ; anal spines small ; 

 caudal lunate. Scales rather small, those above lateral line arranged in 

 series not parallel with it; usually no smaller accessory scales at base of 

 the larger ones. This genus contains a considerable number of species 

 differing from Pomadasis in the long anal fin, the smaller scales, and in the 

 less development of the dorsal spines. Nearly all the species are Ameri- 



* Of this species we have examined a specimen 6 inches long (418, M. C. Z.) from Haiti. 

 A number of specimens in the Museum of Comparative Zoology agree with this one, 

 except that the anal spine is shorter, 2 in head ; they are 10615, M. C. Z., Sao Matheos, the 

 largest a foot in length, and 2421, M. C. Z., from Rio Una. Pristipoma boucardi. Stein- 

 dachner seems to us identical with the specimen from Haiti. It is probable that this is 

 the same as P. ramosus Poey, but the description of Poey is not very full. 



