1782 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



strong, somewhat compressed, Dot elevated; ventral process of basisphe- 

 noid rudimentary, base of skull strongly curved. Length 24 inches. San 

 Diego to San Francisco, abundant; an important food-fish, (Jlavidus; 

 flavus, yellow.) 



Sebastodes Jlavidus, AYRES, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1862, 209, fig. 64, San Francisco (Coll.W.O. 

 Ayres) ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 657, 1883. 



2182. SEBASTODES SERRANOIDES, Eigenmann & Eigenmann. 



Head 3 ; depth 3 to 3* ; eye- 4* in head. D. XIII, 15 or 16 ; A. Ill, 9 ; lat- 

 eral line 60 (pores). Elongate, slender, the dorsal profile but little more 

 arched than ventral; head compressed, anterior profile almost straight; 

 snout long, pointed; lower jaw projecting, its tip entering profile. Eye 

 large, 1 in snout, 1J in strongly convex interorbital. Cranial ridges nearly 

 obsolete, none of them ending in spines ; nasal spines minute, not evident 

 externally. Parietal bones meeting above. Preorbital without spines; 

 preopercular spines long, slender, the lower ones as well developed as the 

 middle ones in largest specimens ; opercular spines as in /Sebastodes Jlavidus. 

 Gill rakers long and slender, as in Sebastodes flaridus. Scales large, those 

 of head greatly reduced; snout, mandibles, and even the lips closely scaled 

 in the old; palatine patches of teeth peculiar, a constriction near their 

 middle, the anterior angle turned inward. Dorsal fin low, the highest 

 spine about 3 in head, notch between the 2 fins deep; caudal notched; 

 anal spines slender, graduated; pectorals not reaching tips of ventrals, 

 not nearly to vent. Gray of varying shades, the back always darker; a 

 series of large white blotches along sides of back much more marked in 

 some examples than in others ; fins all more or less strongly tinged with 

 yellow and edged with dusky. Length about 20 inches. Cortez Banks 

 off San Diego. (Eigenmann.) (Serranus; sido$, resemblance.) 



Sebasticthys flavidus, EIGENMANN & EIGENMANN (not of AYRES), West American Scientist 



1889, 128. 

 Sebastodes serranoides, EIGENMANN & EIGENMANN, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1890, 36, Cortez 



Banks. (Coll. C. H. Eigenmann.) 



?183. SEBASTODES MELANOPS (Girard). 



Head 3; depth 2f. D. XIII, 16; A. Ill, 8; scales 60 to 70, 53 pores; 

 pectoral 4. Head long, in form intermediate between S. mystinus and 

 S. Jlavidus. Maxillary not quite reaching posterior margin of orbit, its 

 length a little less than head; lower jaw protruding, its tip on a line 

 with descending profile. Eye large. Cranial ridges all scaled over and 

 without spines in the adult; space forward of eye not projecting; pre- 

 opercular spines short, but sharp. Gill rakers longer than in S. mystinus, 

 very slender. Dorsal rather low, deeply emarginate, highest spines 2 in 

 head, a little lower than soft rays; caudal slightly emarginate; anal 

 spines small, the second shorter but stouter than third, longer than eye; 

 pectorals short and rather broad, not reaching as far as tips of ventrals, 

 which scarcely reach vent. Scales moderate ; accessory scales numerous ; 

 mandible, maxillary, preorbital, and snout closely scaled. Olive brown, 



