1382 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



elongate; peritoneum black. Vertebrae ll-j-16 or 17=27 or 28. Her- 

 bivorous. Pacific Ocean. This genus contains several species found 

 on the east coast of Asia and one characteristic of the rocky shores of 

 California. They are herbivorous fishes, feeding on seaweeds. (From the 

 French "Girelle," which is a derivative of Julia, and is applied to smaller 

 Labroids.) 



1760. GIRELLA NIGRICANS (Ayres). 



(GREEN-FISH.) 



Head 4; depth 2. D. XIV, 14; A. Ill, 12; scales 50; vertebra? 

 ll-j-16^27. Body oval, compressed, with very deep caudal peduncle; 

 snout thick, its profile evenly rounded; mouth small, subinferior, the 

 maxillary reaching nearly to front of orbit; a minute patch of palatine 

 teeth; each jaw with a series of flat, tricuspid, movable incisors, behind 

 which is a broad band of smaller ones; no teeth on vomer or tongue; 

 cheeks with very small scales ; opercles and top of head naked; preopercle 

 minutely serrulate at its angle; preorbital as broad as eye; gill rakers 

 numerous, rather long; scales firm, weekly ctenoid, those on thorax and 

 front of back smaller; dorsal spines lower than soft rays, with an imper- 

 fect sheath of scales at their base; anal spines small, graduated, the soft 

 rays higher than those of the dorsal ; caudal lunate ; pectorals short and 

 broad, not reaching vent; ventrals short; air bladder with 2 posterior 

 horns; intestinal canal very long; pyloric caeca numerous; peritoneum 

 black. Color dusky green, paler below; fins dusky greenish ; young with 

 a large yellowish blotch on the back on each side of dorsal. Length about 

 a foot. Coast of southern California from Monterey to Cape San Lucas; 

 abundant in rocky places, the young a common and active inhabitant of 

 rock pools; a food-fish of fair quality, (nigricans, blackish.) 



Camarina nigricans, AYRES, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1861, 81, fig. 22, California. 



Girella dorsomacula, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 244, Cape San Lucas ; young. 



(Coll. Xantus.) 

 Girella nigricans, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 560, 1883; JORDAN & FESLER, I. c., 531, 1893. 



564. DOYDIXODON, Valenciennes. 

 Doydixodon, VALENCIENNES, Voyage de la Venus, v, 318, 1855 (freminvillei). 



Dorsal spines 12 or 13. " In each jaw a series of flat tricuspid teeth, 

 behind which is a band of similar teeth, less developed and replacing the 

 former; " soft dorsal and anal elevated, otherwise as in Girella, from which 

 it is doubtfully separated. Species all American; not well known, (dvo, 

 two; d-Lt-oos, forked; 6dov$, tooth.) 



1761. DOYDIXODON FREMINVILLEI, Valenciennes. 



D. Ill, 15; A. Ill, 12; scales about 60. Color uniform dark green, or 

 banded with darker. Form, squamation, and dentition as in Girella nigri- 

 cans (Valenciennes). Galapagos Islands and coast of Peru; known to us 

 from the figure of Valenciennes, which closely resembles Girella nigricans, 



