Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2155 



dark spots on their anterior margin; soft dorsal with 3 rows of dark 

 spots; pectorals blackish, a few of the upper rays pale on the inner side; 

 ventrals and anal pale; caudal barred with dusky. Length 4 inches. 

 Pacific coast of Colombia. Very many specimens dredged at a depth of 

 33 fathoms. (c-sVzd/wo:, a surprise.) 



Prionotus xenisma, JORDAN & BOLLMAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1889, 169, Pacific Ocean 

 off coast of Colombia, at Albatross Station 2795, 7 57' N., 78 55' W. (Type, No. 

 41151.) 



2483. PRIOXOTUS LOXIAS, Jordan. 



Head 2$ ; depth 3|. D. X-10 or 11 ; A. 10 ; scales about 50. Body stout ; 

 head large, rough ; mouth moderate, maxillary not reaching front of orbit, 

 2 in head ; eye large, 3f to 4 in head ; snout 2 in head ; opercular spine 

 strong, nearly as large as preopercular spine; humeral spine small, not 

 as large as either of the others; interorbital area narrow, its ridge 

 evenly concave, its width 2$- in eye; preopercular spine without smaller 

 one in front ; no spine at center of radiation of cheek ; preorbital edge 

 prominent, finely denticulated; supraorbital ridge prominent, with a 

 bluntish spine before and behind; a transverse groove on head behind 

 eye; snout broad, slightly emarginate at tip, the rostral plates not much 

 projecting, their edges sharply and finely serrate, with 10 to 12 serra3; 

 occipital ridges a short distance behind supraorbital ones, ending in a 

 bluntish spine, as also the nuchal ridges. Teeth on jaws, voiner, and pal- 

 atines in bands; lower jaw included; base of mandible below front of 

 orbit; bones of cheeks and opercles with strong striae, the rest of the 

 bones of the head roughish. Gill rakers short, about 10 below the angle, 

 the anterior ones tubercle-like; breast closely scaled. Pectorals short, 

 3J to 3 in the length of the body, scarcely longer than longest detached 

 ray, their tips reaching about third ray of anal fin, length 3 in the body ; 

 ventrals long, their tips almost reaching tips of pectorals, If in head; 

 first dorsal spine the longest, its length 1* in head, serrate in front ; first 

 dorsal ray slightly serrulate at base, its length 3 in head; longest anal 

 ray 4 in head ; caudal fin lunate, with pointed lobes, If in head. Color, 

 brownish above, grayish below; head and anterior parts more or less dis- 

 tinctly vermiculated with dark olivaceous, these markings especially 

 distinct on bones of head; sides with 6 to 15 narrow brown oblique bands 

 extending downward and backward from the lateral line about halfway 

 to anal fin, these obsolete or less conspicuous on anterior portion of the 

 body; both dorsals mottled with olive; caudal with 3 broad blackish 

 bars which do not cross the upper and lower ray, the last bar broad and 

 very conspicuous; upper ray of caudal dark olive; no black spot at base 

 of caudal; anal and ventrals white; pectorals blackish, faintly barred 

 with darker and margined with white. Pacific coast of Central America. 

 Here described from many specimens, 3 to 6 inches long, from Albatross 

 Station 2805, where it occurs with Prionotus xenisma, but more abundantly 

 than the latter. It has not yet been seen elsewhere. This species resem- 

 bles Prionotus rmmwa very closely. It is, however, a little more elongate, 

 with rather smaller scales, the snout longer, the caudal fin barred, the 



