1358 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



1732. LAGODOtf RHOMBOIDES (Linnaeus). 

 ; BEEAM; SAILOR'S CHOICE; CHOPA SPINA.) 



Head3; depth 2 to 2f ; eye 4. D. XII, 11; A. Ill, 11; scales 10-65 to 

 70-17. Body elongate, elliptical; head flattened, muzzle pointed, profile 

 not very steep; eye moderate, 1 to 1| in snout, 1 in iiiterorbital ; mouth 

 moderate, maxillary not reaching front of orbit, 3f in head; incisors |, all 

 deeply notched ; molars in two series in each j aw ; gill rakers 6 -f 13 ; dorsal 

 spines all rather high, the highest about 2 in head ; caudal deeply forked ; 

 second anaJ spine not longer than third; ventrals short and broad, pec- 

 torals moderate, upper rays reaching past origin of anal. Color, in life, 

 olivaceous, the sides bluish -silvery ; a humeral spot and traces of 6 ver- 

 tical bars; gilt stripes much less intense than in Archosaryus unimaculatus, 

 much broader than the interspaces; about 7 stripes below the lateral 

 line, those above it more or less confluent; dorsal fin pale bluish, with a 

 submedian gilt band and a gilt edging; caudal yellow, faintly barred ; 

 anal bluish, with a medium yellowish band; ventrals rnesially yellowish; 

 pectorals plain. Length 6 inches. Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United 

 States, Cape Cod to Cuba; excessively common all along the eastern coast 

 of the United States south of New York, and on the Gulf coast as far west 

 as Peusacola; too small to be much used as food, (pojufiotj rhomb ; sidot, 

 appearance.) 



Spams rhomboides, LINNAEUS, Sysl . Nat., Ed. xn, 470, 1766, Charleston. (Coll, Dr. Garden.) 

 Sargus rhomboides, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vi, 68, pi. 143, 1830; 



GUNTHER, Cat. Fishes, I, 447, 1859. 

 Diplodus rhomboides, EIGENMANN & HUGHES, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1887, 66; JORDAN & 



FESLER, I. c., 518. 



555. ARCHOSARGUS, Gill. 



(SHEEPSHEADS.) 



Archosargus, GILL, Canadian Naturalist, August, 1865 (probatocephalus). 

 Salema, JORDAN & EVERMANN, Check-List, 390,1896 (unimaculatus). 



Body robust, short and deep, compressed, covered with large scales. 

 Head deep, mouth moderate, the jaws with broad incisors in front and 

 coarse molars on the sides; incisors entire or with a shallow notch; pos- 

 terior nostril slit-like ; opercles entire. Dorsal and anal spines strong, the 

 soft parts of the fin short and rounded; a procumbent spine before the 

 dorsal; caudal forked. Gill rakers small. Supraoccipital and temporal 

 crests coalescent anteriorly, both disappearing in the gibbous interor- 

 bital area; frontal bone between eyes transversely convex and more or 

 less honeycombed; temporal crest separated from occipital crest by an 

 excavated area, bounded anteriorly by the lateral crest, which merges into 

 the supraoccipital above eye. This genus, like Layodon, Stetwtom-ns, and 

 Otrynter, which show the same character of the procumbent dorsal spine, 

 is confined to American waters. There are two color types in the genus, 

 one group being made up of the species with broad black crossbands, the 

 other of species with golden streaks and inconspicuous crossbands, re- 

 sembling the species of Lagodon. (dpxog, chief; ddpyog, Sargus, an old 

 name of Diplodus.} 



