Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1845 



Panama to Juan Fernandez. The specimen from which this description 

 is taken is from Charles Island, Galapagos Archipelago; recorded from 

 Juan Fernandez, Galapagos Archipelago, Chinchas Islands, and Panama; 

 a shore fish. (Mstrio, a stage player.) 



Scorpcena histrio, JENYNS, Zool. Voy. Beagle, Fishes, 35, pi. 8, 1842, Chatham Island, 

 Galapagos Archipelago (Coll. Darwin) ; GUNTHER, Cat., n, 115,1860; STEINDACHNER, 

 Ichthyologisclio Beitriige, n, 8, 1875; JORDAN. Prcc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1883, 292; 

 MEEK &, NEWLAND, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1885, 395, 399; JORDAN & BOLLMAN, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1889, 182. 



2240. SCORP.EXA PAXXOS4, Cramer. 



Head 2J (2f in total length) ; depth 3 (3 in total length) ; width at base 

 of pectorals 4; width of head over preopercles 3f. D. XII, 10; A. Ill, 5; 

 pectorals 19; transverse (oblique) rows of scales 25; lateral line (tubes) 

 about 25. Body compressed. Caudal peduncle short, its depth a very 

 little less than orbit. Depth and width of head about equal. Orbit high 

 up, 4^ in head; interorbital space narrow, 2 in orbit, deeply concave, 

 without prominent ridges; preocular ridges thick and prominent, with 

 strong spines; supraocular ridges thin, with blunt spines; postocular 

 spines on rim of orbit rather sharper; no small spine on rim of orbit 

 behind and external to the postocular; a bifid spine behind middle of 

 posterior rini of orbit, and behind this a thin exoccipital ridge with a 

 blunt spine; a pair of sharp, broadly triangular "coronal" spines with 

 small pits between them and the supraoculars ; thin parietal and nuchal 

 ridges of about equal length, with rather blunt spines; occipital pit of 

 moderate depth, its longitudinal width If in the transverse width, its 

 anterior side sloping backward, its posterior side sloping slightly back- 

 ward, forming a shallow pocket in posterior part of pit ; the pit is contin- 

 uous on each side between coronal spine and parietal ridge, with a pit 

 behind postero -superior border of orbit; nasal spines sharp, strong ; pre- 

 orbital very broad, with moderate ridges, its inferior border lobate, with 

 1 small spine directed forward, another downward; no pit under orbit, 

 but a broad, shallow depression between orbit and suborbital ridge; sub- 

 orbital ridge well separated from eye, equidistant from lower rini of 

 orbit and upper edge of maxillary, and composed of 3 or 4 minor ridges, 

 each beginning above the one in front of it, and ending under the one 

 behind it ; a single small spine at posterior end of last ridge ; uppermost 

 preopercular spine longest, a little below the line of the suborbital ridge; 

 above its base is a small spine nearly in line with the ridge ; second, third, 

 and fourth preopercular spines successively smaller, the fifth obsolete; 

 opercle with 2 diverging flat ridges with strong spines; three thin, 

 sharp ridges on shoulder; first 2 scales of lateral line with bony keels. 

 Mouth large, nearly horizontal, wholly below inferior rim of orbit; max- 

 illary reaching about to posterior margin of pupil, 2 in head; jaws equal, 

 the lower without prominent symphyseal knob ; broad bands of teeth on 

 jaws, vomer, and palatines. Pseudobranchite large, reaching down nearly 

 to epihyal bone. Gill rakers very short, broad, with many minute spines ; 

 about 6 developed, the anterior rudiments tending to form a continuous 



