CHEILOPRION 35 



Head and body completely scaly; spinous dorsal naked. Dor- 

 sal spines decreasing in height posteriorly from the third, which 

 is higher than the second anal. Soft dorsal and anal slightly 

 rounded and of about the same height ; caudal deeply cleft, with 

 the lobes more or less produced and with the three anteriormost 

 accessory spines on each margin of its base free and sharp. Pec- 

 toral and ventral fins of nearly the same length, the former 

 extending to above anus and the latter with the outer ray pro- 

 duced into a filament which reaches to base of anal spines. 



Ground color in life greenish, passing into silvery along belly ; 

 scales of head and sides with blue spots ; caudal fin greenish and 

 the other fins grayish; spinous dorsal having a narrow outer 

 margin of blackish ; pectoral with a blackish longitudinal stripe 

 superiorly and a spot of similar color at its base and axil; iris 

 golden. 



Violet blue in alcohol with silvery luster all over, the ground 

 color becoming lighter on the lower parts ; each scale with a pale 

 bluish sp.ot; all the fins more or less washed with violet, 

 spinous dorsal having a blackish outer edge; pectoral with a 

 blackish axillary spot which extends over superiorly at base and 

 with a blackish band along upper rays; caudal with upper and 

 lower margins brownish ; lips violet in front ; a short bluish line 

 in front of orbit. 



Of this species I have examined in the Bureau of Science 

 collection over one hundred specimens, the largest of which is 

 66 millimeters in length. It evidently breeds throughout the 

 year, as several of them are ripe females, collected in different 

 months. The specimens are from the following localities: 

 Puerto Galera and Calapan, Mindoro ; Bantayan Island ; Cabalian, 

 Leyte; Canigaran, Palawan; Surigao, Samal Island, and Zam- 

 boanga, Mindanao; and Tambagaan, Basbas, Bungau, Sibutu, 

 and Sitankai Islands, Sulu Archipelago. 



This species has been listed by Weber from Sanguisiapo, Sulu 

 Archipelago, and is common from the Andamans, through the 

 Indo-Australasian Archipelago, Micronesia, and the Carolines, 

 to the South Seas. 



Genus CHEILOPRION Weber 



Cheiloprion WEBER, Fische der Siboga Exped. (1913) 342; labiatits. 



Body ovate, compressed. Suborbital and the vertical margins 



of preopercle finely serrated. Teeth in two rows of uniform 



height, with slightly rounded tips. Lips thick and swollen, with 



outward radiating papillae drawn together into visible furrows, 



