1458 Bulletin ^7, United States National Musezim. 



Coast of southern California, north to Santa Barbara, generally common ; 

 a food- fish of some importance, reaching a weight of 5 or 6 pounds. The 

 black ocellus on the base of the pectoral fin in this species is as character- 

 istic as that at the base of the caudal in Scicenops ocellatus. (Named* for 

 Robert E.G. Stearns, the well-known conchologist, then of San Francisco.) 

 Corvina stearngi, STEINDACHNKR, Ichth. Beitr., in, 22, 1875, San Diego. 

 Roncador stearnsi, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 28 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, 

 Synopsis, 572, 1883; JORDAN & EIGENMANN, I. c., 408, pi. 5, 1889. 



586. LEIOSTOMUS, Lacepede. 



(GOODIES.) 



Leiostomus, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 439, 1802 (xanlhurus). 

 Liostomus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. 1863, 63 (corrected orthography). 



Body oblong, ovate, the back compressed ; head obtuse ; mouth small, 

 horizontal, the upper jaw with a band of feeble teeth, the lower nearly or 

 quite toothless; slits and pores of upper jaw well developed; lower phar- 

 yngeals separate, the teeth paved ; preopercle with a membranaceous bor- 

 der; dorsal spines 10, slender, rather high, the last connected with the 

 soft rays ; soft dorsal and anal long ; anal spines 2, the second not large ; 

 caudal fin emarginate; gill membranes slightly connected; gill rakers 

 slender. This genus is distinguished from Sciama chiefly by the obsoles- 

 cence of the teeth in the lower jaw, and by the more paved teeth of the 

 pharyngeals. The soft rays of the dorsal fin and especially of the anal 

 are more numerous than in related groups. One species. (Xslo$, smooth ; 

 tirojua, mouth the mouth having been originally described as toothless.) 



1840. LEIOSTOMUS XANTHURUS,t Lacepede. 

 (SPOT; GOODY ; POST-CROAKER ; OLDWIFE; LAFAYETTE.) 



Head 3^ to 3|; depth 3; snout 3& to 3. D. X-I, 31; A. II, 12; scales 

 9-60 to 70-12. Body short, deep, much compressed; back in front of dor- 

 sal compressed to a sharp edge; profile steep, convex, depressed over the 

 eyes; dorsal outline convex, highest at front of dorsal; snout very blunt, 

 as long as eyo, 3 to 3 in head; mouth small, inferior, horizontal ; maxil- 

 lary 3 in head, extending to below pupil ; no teeth in lower j aw, in the adult ; 

 upper jaw with a series of narrow minute teeth ; gill rakers short, slender, 

 8-}-22; lower pbaryngeals small, with three series of molars posteriorly 

 and many villiform teeth anteriorly; preopercle entire; preorbital broad, 

 1 in eye; third dorsal spine highest, 1 in head; soft dorsal with the 

 sheath at its base formed by a single series of scales ; caudal long and 

 forked, as long as head; anal long and slightly falcate; second anal spine 

 2| in the longest ray, 4 in head; ventrals shorter than pectorals, which 

 are as long as the head ; scales small, strongly ctenoid, extending on cau- 



* " Ich erlaube mir, diese so charakter isch gezeichnete Art meinem verehrten Freunde, 

 Herrn R. C. Stearns, einem der thatigsten und hervorragendsten Mitglieder der calif orni- 

 schen Akademie der Naturwissenschaften als Zeichen meiner Hochachten zu widmen." 

 (Steindachner.) 



tThe Dame xanthurus is an unfortunate one, as in this species the caudal fin is never 

 yellow. This name camo about through confusion with Bairdiella chrysura, in which- 

 species the caudal fin is bright yellow. 



