1854 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



very small one at the nostril; some small filaments on the sides and on 

 lateral line. General color that of S. grandicornia, Cuvier, marbled with 

 yellowish and brown, the belly paler; an obscure blotch on subopercle, 

 another on inferior base of pectoral ; caudal with 3 vertical brown bands 

 on a yellowish ground, 1 at base of fin, the second in middle, the third 

 terminal; eye marked with red and yellow; axillary region entirely 

 whitish ; no small white points on the scales of this region. Length 3f 

 inches. (Poey . ) West Indies, north to Florida ; recorded from Martiniqu e, 

 Havana, and Clearwater Harbor, Florida. This species, with only 2 of the 

 pectoral rays branched (Goode & Bean, in their description of the Florida 

 type, say "rays all or nearly all simple")? seems to form a transition to 

 the genus Pontinus, which can be distinguished from Scorpcena only by the 

 undivided condition of the pectoral rays, (incrmis, unarmed.) 



Scorpcena inermis, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 311, 1829, Martinique. 



(Coll. M. Kichard.) 

 Scorpcena occipitalis, POEY, Memorias, II, 171, 1860, Havana; POEY, Synopsis, 303, 1868; 



JORDAN, Cat. Fishes N. A., 109, 1885; MEEK & NEWLAND, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 



1885, 397, 402. 

 Scorpcena calcarata* GOODE & BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 422, Clearwater Harbor, 



Florida (Type, No. 23566. Coll. Dr. J. W. Velie) ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 



952, 1883. 



694. PONTINUS, Poey. 



Pontinus, POEY, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuha, n, 172, I860 (castor). 

 Sebastoplus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 208 (kuhlii). 



This genus differs from Scorpcena chiefly in having the pectoral rays all 

 simple and their tips only free ; anal with 5 to 9 rays ; suborbital keel com- 

 posed of 3 or 4 distinct, differentiated spines, 2 prominent retrorse spines 

 on each preorbital. No pit at occiput; scales ctenoid; cheeks and oper- 

 cles usually scaly ; pectorals not procurrent. The American species all 

 have D. XII, 10; A. Ill, 5. (pontinus; pons, a bridge, referring to the sub- 

 orbital stay. ) 



* Here is given Goode & Bean's description of Scorpcena calcarata, which species Jor- 

 dan and Meek & Newlaud have identified with Scorpcena occipitalis, Poey : 



Scorpcena calcarata, GOODE & BEAN : Depth 3. D. XI-I, 9 ; A. HI, *5 ; P. 19 ; lateral 

 line 28 (25 tubes) . Body moderate, robust ; eye large, nearly 3 in head ; lower jaw slightly 

 projecting, with a small symphyseal knob ; maxillary reaching past pupil, its length 

 head ; preorbital with 3 diverging spines ; suborbital without pit, the bony stay moderate, 

 armed with 2 small spines ; nasal spines small ; interorbital space narrow, with 2 longi- 

 tudinal ridges, its width length of eye ; cranial ridges rather low, with sharp spines, 

 arranged as in Scorpcena stearnsi. Occipital cavity almost obsolete, represented by a 

 slight depression ; preopercular spines 5, the lowermost stout, directed downward and 

 forward, the uppermost rather long, more than \ eye; opercular and scapular spines 

 moderate; supraocular flaps minute, a few other small flaps on head; cheeks with rather 

 large imbricated scales ; opercle with some scales anteriorly and on its flap ; breast scaly ; 

 scales of body large, not ctenoid, with few dermal flaps or none; pores of lateral line very 



head; .ut nety i<u%viy uuiteu ui ueiiy ova membrane; soft anal rays moderate; ventrals 

 reaching past vent If in head ; pectoral long, 1 in head, its base oblique (procurrenfc), 2J 

 in head, the rays all (or nearly all) simple. Color essentially as in Scorpcena stearnsi (bra- 

 fnltensis); axil of pectoral whitish, with dusky specks, a black spot at its upper edge; 

 ventrals mostly black. (Goode & Beau.) Clearwater Harbor Florida 



