ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 153 



bancT; ventrals mesially yellowish ; pectorals plain. Length, 6 

 inches. ' ' Weight to 2 pounds"; average about ^ pound. 



Caught : Rod and reel, still fishing, bottom ; No. 9 line, 1#, 

 2$ hooks. Bait : Cut Mullet, Crustacea. Edible, C. 



This is the only fish I know as the " Sailor's Choice." 



Illustration. Page. 



179. "HiEMULON PARRA." 530 1297 



(Repeated.) 

 Sailor's Choice ; (2) or " Head 3; depth 2^; eye large, 4 



Key West Sailor's Choice. in head D X II, 17 ; A. Ill, 7; scales 

 5-50-14. Body comparatively deep, the back compressed and arched ; 

 anterior profile rather steep and convex, steep and nearly straight from 

 tip of snout to opposite front of eye ; here an obtuse angle is formed, 

 and to the base of dorsal there is a rather even curve. In other 

 specimens there is little or no prominence before eye. Snout com- 

 paratively high and obtuse, its length in specimens of moderate size 

 3 in head ; snout shorter in young specimens than in the adult, the 

 maxillary in the young extending farther back although proportion- 

 ately shorter ; mouth rather small for the genus, the maxillary usually 

 extending a little beyond vertical from front of eye, in young nearly 

 to middle of eye, its length 21 in head ; maxillary in adult barely 

 reaching front of eye ; jaws subequal, the lower slightly included. 

 Teeth rather strong, in moderate bands, the outer large, the antrorse 

 teeth of the posterior part of lower jaw well developed. Interorbital 

 space convex, its width 4^ in head ; preorbital rather deep, its least 

 breadth 5-| in head ; preopercle finely, but sharply serrate, the teeth 

 near the angle farther apart than the others, but scarcely larger. In 

 regard to the serration of the preopercle we find much variation 

 among our specimens, some of those from Cuba, corresponding more 

 or less perfectly to H. serratum, Poey, have the preopercle always 

 strongly serrate ; while others, certainly corresponding to H. acutum, 

 Poey, have the serrations very inconspicuous. The Key West 

 specimens are in this respect mostly intermediate, and none of them 

 show any other distinctive character correlated with the differences in 

 the preopercle. Gill rakers small, about 15 on lower part of arch. 

 Scales rather large, those above lateral line not especially enlarged, 

 arranged in very oblique series ; those below more nearly horizontal ; 

 soft fins well scaled ; series of scales from scapular scale reaching 

 fourth to sixth dorsal spine. Dorsal spines stout, the fourth highest, 



