1436 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



in head. Color grayish silvery above, silvery on sides and below ; dorsal 

 region with faint streaks produced by darker centers of the scales; spi- 

 iious dorsal blackish, darker on membrane of first spine, the soft portion as 

 well as the caudal yellowish dusky ; ventrals and pectorals pale, each with 

 a faint' yellowish blotch; axil of pectoral black above; anal pale. Pacific 

 coast of Mexico ; rather common about Mazatlan ; readily distinguished 

 from other species by the weakness of its dorsal spines, as well as by the 

 large number of the soft rays. (ELKO) to yield; itiriov, sail, from the slen- 

 derness of its species.) 



ticicena icistia, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 356, Mazatlan. (Types, 



Nos. 28182, 28228, 28275, 28368, 29566, 29613, 29615, 29775, 29790. Coll. Gilbert.) 

 Bairdiella icistia, JORDAN & EIGENMANN, I. c., 387, 1889. 



1817. BAIRDIELLA RONCHUS (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 

 (KONGO; GROUND DRUMMER.) 



Head 3}; depth 3f ; eye 4fc in head. D. X-I, 23; A. II, 8; scales 7-50-8. 

 Body oblong, compressed, scarcely angular in outline ; profile straight, 

 rather steep, the*snout short and rather acute ; eye as long as snout ; mouth 

 moderate, nearly horizontal; premaxillary on level of lower part of orbit; 

 maxillary reaching beyond middle of eye, 2f in head; teeth as in Bairdiella 

 icistia ; preopercle strongly serrate ; gill-rakers 9-J-18. Dorsal spines rather 

 stiff, the highest 2 in head; second anal spine rather strong, curved, If in 

 head, as long as first soft ray, and reaching beyond tips of other rays. Ven- 

 trals slightly longer than pectorals, which are If in head ; caudal truncate. 

 Color soiled grayish above, silvery below ; faint, dark streaks along the 

 rows of scales ; spinous dorsal and anterior part of anal densely covered 

 with dark dots. Length 6 inches. Atlantic coasts of tropical America, 

 generally common in the West Indies and along the coast of Brazil ; * a 

 food-fish of some importance, but small in size; our specimens from 

 Havana. (Ronco, grunter or croaker, the Spanish name of various species 

 of Hcemulon, Pomadasis, Bairdiella, etc., from roncar, to snore, or to make a 

 rough or raucous noise.) 



Corvina ronchus, CUVIER &. VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v. 107, 1830, Maracaibo; 



Surinam; GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., n, 299, 1860; GUNTHER, Fishes Central 



America, 387, 1869. 



Bairdiella ronchus, POEY, Synopsis, 324, 1868. 

 Scicena ronchus, JORDAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, 44. 

 Bairdiella ronchus, JORDAN & EIGENMANN, I. c., 388, 1889. 



Subgenus NECTOR, Jordan & Evermann. 

 1818. BAIRDIELLA ARMATA, Gill. 



Head 3 to 3 ; depth 3 ; eye 4 in head ; snout 4. D. XI-1, 21 ; A. II, 8 ; scales 

 7-51-9. Snout sharp, the head slender, narrow above, the interorbital 



