14 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. Ill 



erally, the anterior ones projecting obliquely forward; preopercle 

 finely serrate, the paratype with two small flat spines at angle in addi- 

 tion to fine serrations on vertical margin ; opercle with three spines, 

 the middle one the largest ; gill rakers long, slender, 26 on lower limb 

 of first arch; lateral line running close to back, abruptly decurved 

 under last rays of dorsal, thence a little below middle of caudal 

 peduncle to base of caudal fin ; scales present on head and body, ex- 

 clusive of premaxillary, and upper border and tip of mandible ; dorsal 

 fin beginning above middle of opercle, the spines increasing in length 

 to the third, then slowly decreasing, the third spine 2.3 in head; soft 

 dorsal with gently convex margin, middle rays longest, no notch be- 

 tween spinous and soft portions; caudal forked, the outer rays not 

 produced; anal fin small, its origin a little behind vertical from be- 

 ginning of soft part of dorsal, its first spine short, the second one 

 nearly as long as the third, and stronger; ventral fin with first and 

 second soft rays filamentous, the second the longer, extending about 

 to end of anal base ; pectoral with narrowly rounded margin, extend- 

 ing a little beyond origin of anal, 1.2 in head. 



Color of type "masked by purple stain." Paratype, "yellowish with 

 brown mottling above, a little paler below, fins all pale. It shows 

 traces of three radiating dark lines behind the eye, each line about 

 as wide as pupil, a dark patch between the eyes extending onto snout, 

 and a dark line in front of the eye carried onto tip of lower jaw." 

 (Reorganized and largely reworded after Barton's description and 

 figure.) 



This species was described by Mr. Barton, as shown above, from 

 two specimens, the type 235 mm. in total and 188 mm. in standard 

 length, and a paratype 192 mm. in total length, both from the vicinity 

 of Talara (exact place of collection uncertain), Peru. It already has 

 been pointed out by John T. Nichols in a footnote in Mr. Barton's 

 paper that this species is close to Anthias gordensis Wade (1946, 

 p. 225), A. gordensis was described from two small specimens, 127 

 and 129 mm. in standard length, taken at 70 to 78 fathoms on Inner 

 Gorda Banks, off Cape San Lucas, Mexico. 



Whether sechurae and gordensis actually are distinct cannot be 

 definitely determined from the published accounts. The number of 

 fin rays and gill rakers, indeed, are virtually the same in the two, but 

 a slight difference in the number of scales in a lateral series is in- 

 dicated, 55 or 56 being given for sechurae and 48 to 50 for gordensis. 

 It is not stated, however, exactly where and how the enumerations 

 were made. The eye may be a little smaller in sechurae, 4.0 in head, 

 than in gordensis, 3.61 and 3.75 in head, but then the specimens of 



