1366 Bulletin ^7, United States National Miiseum. 



dorsal fins slender; pectoral short, 1 in head; ventrals moderate, with 

 axillary scales; vertical fins without scales except the sheath at base; 

 caudal deeply forked, nearly as long as head, the angles pointed. Color 

 greenish, bluish- white below; snout yellowish; a broad band of green 

 tinged with yellow from eye to tail; three similar bauds on back, the 

 median one most distinct and most regular; dorsals pale yellow; caudal 

 dusky violet, the borders pale; pectoral rosy; ventrals and anal white. 

 Cceca 5; air bladder very small. Length 8 inches. Havana (Poey.) 

 Very rare, but occasionally visiting the coast of Cuba in great schools in 

 December, (vittatus, striped.) 



Inermia vittata, POEY, Memorias, n, 193, 1860, Havana. 



Emmelichthys vittatus, POEY, Synopsis, 320, 1868. 



Erythrichthys vittatus, POEY, Enumeratio, 49, 1875; JORDAN &, FESLER, I. c., 528, 1893. 



Family CLIII. GERRII^E. 



(THE MO J ARRAS.) 



Body oblong or elevated, compressed, covered with large, smooth scales; 

 lateral line continuous, concurrent with the back; mouth moderate, 

 extremely protractile, descending when protruded, the spines of the pre- 

 maxillary extending to above eye, closing a deep groove in the top of head ; 

 maxillary without supplemental bone, not slipping under the very narrow 

 preorbital, its surface silvery, like the rest of the head; base of mandible 

 scaly, a slit between it and the preorbital to permit its free motion ; both 

 jaws with slender, villiform teeth; no incisors, canines, nor molars; no 

 teeth on vomer or palatines; preopercle entire or serrate; sides of head 

 scaly ; nostrils double, round; pseudobranchhe concealed; gill rakers short, 

 broad; gill membranes separate, free from the isthmus; dorsal fin single, 

 continuous or deeply notched, the spinous and soft portions about equally 

 developed, with a scaly sheath along the base; dorsal spines usually 9 or 

 10; anal usually with 3 spines, the soft portion of the fin similar to the 

 soft dorsal but shorter; ventral fins thoracic, I, 5, rather close together, 

 slightly behind pectorals: branchiostegals 6 ; lower pharyngeal bones close 

 together, often appearing to be united, the teeth blunt; air bladder pres- 

 ent: pyloric coeca rudimentary ; vertebrae 10-f-l 4=24. Oviparous. Genera 

 6 or 8; species about 40. Carnivorous fishes of moderate or small size 

 inhabiting the tropical seas. They differ considerably in form and in 

 development of spines, but the intergradations are very perfect, so that 

 but for the osteological peculiarities of certain species all might be placed 

 in one genus.* The larger species are used as food and are of excellent 

 flavor. (Gerridce, Gunther, Cat. Fishes, iv, 252-264, 1862.) 



a. Dorsal fin continuous, deeply notched. 



b. Second interhaemal spine singularly developed, as a hollow cylinder, compara- 

 tively short and much expanded, the posterior end of the air bladder enter, 

 ing its cavity; preopercle and preorbital entire; anal spines 3, the second 

 not much enlarged. EUCINOSTOMUS, 559. 



*For descriptions and complete synonymy of the species of this family see paper by 

 Evermann & Meek in Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci.' Phila. 1886, 256-272. 



