Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1627 



maxillary 3; eye 2$ in snout. Teeth pointed, imbricated in qnincunx 

 order, both tips and edges wholly free, the anterior face convex, the pos- 

 terior face alone adnate to the dental plate ; of equal size and similar in 

 both jaws, there being 3 or 4 teeth in an oblique cross series anteriorly, 

 about 12 of these series in the upper jaw, and 14 in the lower; 2 teeth in 

 the upper jaw at the angle of the mouth are conical and curved downward 

 and backward. Scales on cheek in a single series, 3 or 4 in number; 4 

 scales on median line before the dorsal tin, the anterior one encroaching 

 on occiput; scales on breast not reduced, 3 on median line before ventrals, 

 1 series of scales between lateral line and dorsal, the series forming 

 a sheath along base, of fin. Dorsal spines rather high and flexible, the 

 origin of the fin over base of pectorals; caudal deeply lunate, the outer 

 rays produced, longer than the middle rays, 1 in head; none of the ven- 

 tral rays elongate, the tin reaching about halfway to vent, li in head; 

 pectorals with wide oblique base, the free margin of fin somewhat 

 /-shaped, the upper angle acute, the lower rounded, the longest ray If in 

 head ; origin of ventral spine under middle of pectoral base. Color mot- 

 tled silvery, slaty, and brown, without definite pattern; top of head and 

 snout dusky; pectorals black at base; ventrals dusky at tip; dorsal and 

 anal black on basal half, mottled distally; caudal mottled, narrowly 

 edged behind with white. Two specimens from Socorro Island, the long- 

 est 14 inches long. (Gilbert.) (IfVoj, strange; odovg, tooth.) 



Calotomus xenodon, GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1890, 70, Socorro Island (Coll. Alba- 

 tross) ; JORDAN, Review Labroid Fishes, 667, 1890. 



648. SPARISOMA, Swainson. 



(VlEJAS.) 



Sparisoma, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist. Class. Fishes, etc., n, 227, 1839 (abildgaardi). 



Scarus, BLEEKKR, Yersl. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, xn, Scaroid, 3, 1861 (cretensis; not of 



Forskal). 

 Euscarus, JORDAN & EVERMANN, Check-List, 416, 1896 (cretensis). 



Lower pharyngeal broader than long, subhexagonal, its surface moder- 

 ately concave or fiattish; teeth in each jaw largely coalescent in adult, 

 their tips more or less separate in the young, the edge, especially of the 

 lower jaw, remaining uneven; the median suture in each jaw present, but 

 not well defined; 1 to 4 radiating canines sometimes present on each side 

 of upper jaw above its cutting edge; * gill membranes broadly united to 

 the isthmus ; dorsal spines pungent ; upper lip double for its entire length ; 

 lower jaw projecting beyond upper; lateral line not interrupted, passing 

 gradually from its row of scales posteriorly to the series next below it; 

 tubes of lateral line much branched; scales about head large, those on 

 cheek in a single row, those on the median line in front of dorsal 3 or 4 in 

 number. Species of rather small size, most of them American; some of 

 them showily colored. Sparisoma cretensis (Linnaeus) the Scarus (dxdpog) 

 of the ancients is the only member of this family found in Europe. It is 



* In some species having normally 1 or more canine teeth, some or all of them are 

 occasionally absent, on one or both sides. 



