1350 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



outline of snout being slightly curved; in adults the antedorsal region is 

 very sharply compressed and somewhat gibbous, forming above eye an 

 angle with rest of profile. Greatest depth of preorbital more than | head 

 in adult. Mouth small, the maxillary scarcely reaching vertical from 

 front of eye, 2f in head. Outer teeth strong, about 10 to 12 in number, 

 the outer one on each side in one or both jaws sometimes enlarged, canine- 

 like, but sometimes, especially in old examples, directed more or less hori- 

 zontally forward. Gill rakers small, about 4 -{-6. Dorsal spines stronger 

 and lower than in C.proridens, the longest 2 in head; pectorals reaching 

 slightly beyond vertical from front of anal, rather more than length of 

 body; ventrals 4 in length; anal spines robust. Color in life, silvery* 

 with bluish reflections; the base and central portions of each scale 

 golden, forming distinct longitudinal stripes, the stripes between these 

 pearly or bluish; rows of scales on cheeks and opercles with the pearly 

 stripe median, the golden marginal ; a deep violet streak below orbit, not 

 extending forward on snout nor backward on opercles ; preorbital deep 

 dull violet like the snout, the ground color forming reticulations around 

 conspicuous round brassy spots which cover half the surface; naked part 

 of the preopercle sometimes similarly marked, more often colored like the 

 body; edge of opercle gilt; lower jaw dusky violet; axil golden; base of 

 pectoral above with a violet bar; fins all pale, vaguely blotched with dull 

 orange; ventrals more or less dusky on inner rays; commissure of lips 

 yellow; iris golden. Length 15 inches. West Indies, north to Florida 

 Keys; generally common about Key West and Havana, less abundant than 

 proridens or bajonado.* (calamus, a reed, the equivalent of pez de pluma.) 



Pagellus calamus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vi, 206, pi. 152, 1830, Martini- 

 que; San Domingo. 



Calamus megacephalus, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist. Fish., 11, 222, 1839; after CUVIER & VALEN- 

 CIENNES. 



Pagellus orbitarius, POEY, Memorias, n, 201, 1860, Havana. 



Calamus macrops, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 927, 1883, Garden Key, Florida. 



Chrysophrys calamus, GUNTHER, Cat., I, 487, 1859; several species confounded. 



Sparus orbitarius, POEY, Synopsis, 308, 1868. 



Calamus calamus, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1884, 17; JORDAN &FESLER, 

 I. c., 511. 



1721. CALAMUS PRORIDENS, Jordan & Gilbert. 



(LITTLE-HEAD PORGY; PEZ DE PLUMA.) 



Head 3 to 3| in length (4 in total) ; depth 2 to 2 (2f to 3) ; eye mod- 

 erate, 4 in head in adult (11 inches long), 3 in head in young of 6 inches. D. 

 XII, 12; A. Ill, 10. Scales 9-58-16. Body much elevated, more so than in 

 any other known species except in C. calamus. In adults the anterior profile 

 rises in a straight line very steeply to the nape, thence in a gentle curve to 

 front of dorsal. In the young the profile rises less rapidly and is convex; 



* Among the specimens in the museum at Cambridge are some of the types of Calamus 

 orbitarius. In some of these none of the canines is turned forward, and none of the speci- 

 mens collected by Dr. Jordan at Key West and Havana shows this character. In others, 

 however, the outermost of the 7 or 8 canines in the upper jaw is turned directly forward, 

 as in C.proridens. Some of these also show an approximation to the head coloration of 

 C. proridens. The dorsal spines and the depth of the preorbital show that all these 

 belong to C. calamus. 



