1704 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



ing spines short and very thick; lateral line reduced to a trace at the 

 shoulder. From the more closely allied genus Balistapus, to which most 

 of the East Indian Balistoids belong, Pachynaihm differs chiefly in the 

 presence of the preocular groove. Species rather few ; all of the Pacific 

 Ocean; 1 ranging to our coasts, (rtaxvt, thick; yvdQoS, jaw, hence cor- 

 rectly written Pachygnathus, a name preoccupied.) 



2119. PACHYX A/THUS CAPISTRATUS (Shaw). 



(FEZ PUERCQ.) 



Head 2f; depth 2. D. Ill, 30 or 31; A. 27 or 28; scales 54 to 64. Body 

 rather oblong, a groove before the eye. Each scale, for about 9 rows on 

 the tail and posterior part of sides, with a small, smooth, inconspicuous 

 tubercle ; about 34 scales in several parallel horizontal streaks in front of 

 pectoral, a transverse series from soft dorsal to vent ; a few bony scutes 

 behind the gill opening, 1 of these considerably enlarged. Lateral line 

 obsolete, reduced to a slender groove on a few scales behind eye. Dorsal 

 and anal fins rather low, with outlines rounded or slightly angular in front, 

 the first rays not produced ; caudal double truncate, the angles scarcely 

 produced. First dorsal spine strong, somewhat roughened. Ventral flap 

 small, somewhat movable, supported by a few short, thick spines. Uniform 

 blackish brown ; a yellowish ring from middle of upper lip around the 

 lower jaw; a straight yellow stripe from this ring toward the pectoral, 

 not reaching the gill opening ; this sometimes absent or indistinct. Two 

 types of coloration seen by us. Some specimens, probably females,* 

 are dull olive with darker clouds; no yellow on posterior parts which are 

 scarcely paler behind ; fins all plain olive blackish ; streak behind mouth 

 light bluish, very faint, soon fading after death ; lower lip blue, then golden, 

 then a blue ring, then yellow, then bluish ; upper lip livid, bluish above. 

 Other specimens, which are probably males, are dark olive clouded with 

 darker; posterior half of body deep yellow below median line; fins black- 

 ish ; first dorsal bright olive yellow on membranes ; green on caudal mem- 

 branes, the rays black; anal reddish; streak behind mouth bright red in 

 one, whitish in another; upper lip livid blue, then orange, then golden, 

 then livid, blue, or purplish, then orange, then crimson, then dark. Still 

 other specimens have whitish marks instead of red. Pacific Ocean ; widely 

 distributed through the East Indies and on the coast of China; also abun- 

 dant on the Pacific coast of tropical America from Magdalena Bay to the 

 Galapagos. The specimens here described from the Venados and Creston 

 islands at Mazatlan, and from La Paz and Chatham Island. Our (male) 

 specimens agree perfectly with Bleeker's figure drawn from East Indian 

 examples, (caplstratus, bridled.) 



LeBaliste bride, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., i, 335, 1798; on a drawing by COMMEBSON? 



without locality. 



Balistes capistratus, SHAW, Gen'l Zool., v, 417, 1804; after LACEPEDE. 

 Batistes amboinensis, GRAY, Hardwicke, Illust. Indian Zool., 1834, Amboina. 



* The sexual organs in specimens taken at Mazatlan in January are too little developed 

 to enable us to recognize the distinctions. 



