Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America, 1695 



Color of adult, olive green, slightly paler below, everywhere evenly cov- 

 ered with small, round, black spots, close set but not confluent, the largest 

 about equal to nostril; caudal peduncle and fin abruptly bright yellow, 

 .unspotted; other fins colored like the body and similarly spotted, the 

 spots more sparse; vertical fins dusky-edged, the spots fewer on the edge. 

 Young, light steel blue or gray, paler below ; a triangular silvery patch on 

 breast and opercles; caudal fin canary yellow, sometimes white, clouded 

 at base ; second dorsal and anal black, a dark bar from nape through eye ; 

 snout dusky ; small dark spots everywhere on body, these sometimes so 

 numerous as to reduce the ground color to reticulations. Rocky places 

 on the Pacific coast of Mexico; reaching a length of 18 inches; the young 

 of 1 or 2 inches in length abundant in rock pools about Cape San Lucas 

 and Mazatlan. The adult taken by us about Creston Island and by Dr. 

 Gilbert about the Revillagigedos and Cape San Lucas, (punctatus, spotted. ) 



Prionurus punctatus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 242, Cape San Lucas ; young. 



(Coll. John Xantus.) 

 Xesurus punctatus, JORDAN, Fishes of Sinaloa, 486, pi. 46, 1895. 



2111. XESUBUS CLARIONIS, Gilbert & Starks. 



Head 3 in length to base of caudal; depth 2. D. VII, 26; A. Ill, 22; 

 eye 3 in snout ; pectoral 4 in length ; ventral 7. Profile undulating ; con- 

 cave on snout and above eyes, produced before eyes and at occiput; occi- 

 put forming a well-rounded angle, behind which the curve of the back is 

 uniform to the caudal peduncle. Teeth in a single row, alike in both 

 jaws, wide and flat outer margin oblique, divided into 5 rounded lobes; 

 lower jaw included; gill opening equal in length to pectoral; first dorsal 

 spine f as long as the others, which are subequal ; ventral spine extend- 

 ing to middle of vent, length of soft rays ; upper rays of pectoral pro- 

 duced, the fin somewhat acute at tip ; posterior margin of pectoral concave ; 

 anal slightly higher than soft rays of dorsal but similar in outline. Body, 

 head, and fins everywhere with a villous covering ; 3 large bony plates 

 near tail, not with recurved spines in our specimens. Color in alcohol, 

 uniform dark brown, often finely mottled with darker in life, the caudal 

 dark yellowish. Numerous specimens 15 inches long, obtained by Dr. 

 Gilbert (Albatross Coll.), at Clarion Island in the Revillagigedo Archi- 

 pelago. This species is much deeper than Xesurus laticlavius, as shown in 

 the figure given by Valenciennes, and shows no lateral band, but it may 

 be the adult of the same species. 

 Xesurus clarionis, GILBERT & STARKS, Proc, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1896, 445, pi. 51, Clarion Island. 



2112. XESURUS LATICLAYIUS (Valenciennes). 



Head 4 ; depth 2 ; eye 4 ; snout 1. D. VII, 27 (VIII, 28) ; A. Ill or IV, 23. 

 Snout much produced, anterior profile below eye concave, between eye 

 and dorsal fin convex; 3 plates on median line of caudal peduncle, of 

 nearly uniform size; 8 incisors on each side of upper jaw. Color yellow- 

 ish or orange, a broad band of darker or brownish extending from gill- 

 opening to base of caudal fin, narrowing toward posterior end; body 



