Jordan and Evcrmann. Fishes of North America. 1545 



3 scales only. Caudal deeply forked. Color deep steel blue above, slightly 

 paler below with a tinge of orange at throat. Pectoral light yellow, dusky 

 at base; other fins black, each with a narrow whitish edge. West coast of 

 Mexico. Three specimens from Guadalupe Island, each 6| inches long. A 

 beautiful iish with a symmetrical outline, unusual in this family, (hirundo, 

 a swallow.) 



Aziirina hirundo, JORDAN & McGREGOR, new species, Guadalupe Island. (Coll. Richard 

 Crittendeii McGregor.) 



621. CHROMIS,* Cuvier. 



(CHAUFFE-SOLEILS.) 



Chromis, CUVIER, Memoirs du Mus. d'Hist. Nat. 1815 (chromis). 

 Jlrllaxex, CUVIEU ,t VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 495, 1830 (ineolatus). 

 Furcaria, POEY, Meraorias Cuba, n, 194, 1860 (puncta = inultilineatus). 

 Ayresia, COOPER, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1863, 73 (punctipinnis) . 

 Heliastea, GUNTHER, corrected spelling. 



Body oblong or ovate, the depth f to f the length of the body without 

 caudal. Preopercle entire, or nearly so; lateral line wanting on tail. 

 Mouth small; teeth small, conical, in 2 or more series, the outer series 

 enlarged and blunt. Scales rather large, 24 to 30 in a longitudinal series ; 

 snhorhital and lower jaw scaly. Dorsal fin with 12 to 14 spines; caudal 

 more or less forked, the lobes rounded or acute. Brarichiostegals nor- 

 mally 5. Pyloric caeca 2. Gill rakers long and slender. Tropical seas ; 

 species numerous, varying considerably in form, perhaps divisible into 4 

 genera: Chromis, Heliaxex, Ayresia, and Furcaria. (xpojuig, the ancient 

 name of some fish, probably a Scirenoid, from xp l iK) >t>o neigh, from the 

 noise made by the fish ; akin to the names Grunter, Croaker, Drum, Hogfish, 

 Burro, Ronco, Roncador.) 



I. Body oblong, elliptical, graceful in form, the caudal peduncle long, the low, pointed, 

 soft dorsal and anal not reaching caudal ; interorbital space narrow and high ; caudal 

 deeply forked, its lobes acute. 

 FURCARIA (furca, fork) : 

 a. Dorsal spines 12; snout rather acute. 



b. Caudal fin with a broad black border on each lobe; dorsal blackish, the last 

 rays pair. ATRILOBATUS, 1954. 



bb. Caudal fin without black border, pale or edged with orange. 



c. Color bright blue, with a violet spot on each scale; caudal translucent 

 behind. CYANEUS, 1955. 



cc. Color violet brown; a black spot at base of pectoral; a large orange 

 spot behind last ray of dorsal ; dark streaks along the rows of scales ; 

 dorsal and caudal edged with orange. MULTILINEATUS, 1956. 



AYRESIA :t 

 aa. Dorsal spines 13; snout obtuse. 



d. Color dusky olive, the vertical fins and posterior part of the body covered 

 with round dark spots. PUNCTIPINNIS, 1957. 



* The name Chromis, originally used for the European species of this genus, Chromis 

 chromis L = Chromis castaneus of authors, has been improperly transferred by several 

 writers to an African genus of Cichlidce, for which the proper name is Tilapia. 



t Named for Dr. William O. Ayres (1817-1891), formerly of Brookhaven, Long Island; 

 for many years the ichthyologist of the California Academy of Sciences ; an earnest stuaent 

 of fishes. 



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