1420 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



notably enlarged; dorsal spines slender, the highest 2f in head; pectoral 

 1 in head; ventrals If; scales all ctenoid. Color grayish above, silvery 

 below; upper vertical fins punctate; lower fins yellowish; axil dark. 

 (Steindachner.) Rivers of Guiana, Venezuela, and Colombia; not seen 

 by us. 



Pseudoscicena surinamensis, BLEEKER, Arch. Neerl. Sci. Exact, et Nat., vni, 1873, 458, 



Surinam. 

 Scicena magdalence, STEINDACHNER, Zur Fisch -Fauna des Magdalenon-Stromes, 6, ]878, 



Magdalena Bay, Venezuela. 

 Scicena surinamensis, STEINDACHNER, Fisch-Fauna des Cauca, 4, 1880. 



576. LARIMUS, Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



Larimus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 145, 1830 (breviceps). 

 Amblyscion, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 165 (argenteus). 

 Monosira, POEY, Anales do Hist. Nat. Esp. 1881, 326 (stahli). 



Body rather elongate, compressed; skull firm, not greatly cavernous; 

 interorbital space rather narrow; preorbital flattish, not turgid; upper 

 jaw with the usual slits and pores little developed ; no barbels ; no canines ; 

 snout very short, mouth large, terminal, very oblique or even vertical, the 

 lower jaw projecting; teeth minute, equal, uniserial or partly biserial 

 above ; preopercle entire or nearly so^ without bony teeth. Scales mod- 

 erate, subequal. Pseudobranchise well developed. Fins essentially as in 

 Bairdiella, the second dorsal long, the anal short, its spines moderate or 

 small; fins not thickened by accessory scales. Gill rakers long and slen- 

 der. Vertebra) 10+14. Silvery fishes, all American. (Larimus, a name 

 used by Oppien for some fish, "sans signification precise. ") 



(AMBLYSCION d/A]8Av5, blunt; aniov, Sciwna.) : 



a. Mouth large, the cleft quite vertical ; profile slightly convex, nearly horizontal ; no 

 traces of dark stripes along the rows of scales ; maxillary not extending beyond 

 anterior margin of pupil, 2 in head; snout very short, 5J in head; ventrals a 

 little shorter than pectorals which are as long as head. D. X-I, 27 ; A. II, 6. 



ARGENTEUS. 1800. 

 LARIMUS : 



aa. Mouth more or less oblique, not quite vertical ; upper parts with dark streaks along 

 the rows of scales ; profile slightly convex, a little oblique ; maxillary extending 

 to below front of orbit, 2 in head. 

 b. Dorsal rays 27 to 30 ; mouth notably oblique. 



c. Upper parts silvery, without dark streaks or cross bands; pectorals long 

 and narrow, & longer than head. D. X-I, 28 to 30. 



EFFULGENS, 1801. 



cc. Upper parts with distinct dark streaks along the rows of scales. 



d. Second anal spine 1| to 2 in head, not reaching tips of soft rays; 



dark streaks very distinct ; mouth less oblique ; gill cavity largely 



black. ACCLIVIS, 1802. 



dd. Second anal spine If in head, reaching tips of soft rays ; dark streaks 



on sides not very distinct ; mouth very oblique ; gill cavity pale. 



BREVICEPS, 1803. 



bb. Dorsal rays 24 to 27; mouth still less oblique, the snout more convex, the pro- 

 file descending forward. 

 e. Color silvery, with more or less distinct streaks along the rows of scales ; 



no dark cross bars. 



/. Second anal spine rather short, 3 in head; stripes very distinct; pec- 

 torals 1J in head, reaching vent. D. X-I, 27 ; A. II, 6. 



PACIFICUS, 1804. 



