NO. lO FISHES FROM PERU — HILDEBRAND AND BARTON 23 



mouth rather large, lower jaw shorter than upper, included ; maxillary 

 reaching nearly to anterior margin of pupil, 3.75 in head; teeth in 

 jaws minute, apparently in a narrow band ; preopercular spine strong, 

 curved upward posteriorly, bifurcate distally, the upper spine the 

 stronger, directed upward; gill opening superior, being an elongate 

 tranverse slit ; lateral line single ; first dorsal with four slender spines, 

 each bearing a short filament, none reaching second dorsal without 

 filament, origin of fin over the space between gill opening and base 

 of pectoral, distance from snout 3.1 in standard length; second dorsal 

 well separated from the first, the anterior rays a little higher than 

 the posterior ones, each with a short filament and all falling far short 

 of reaching base of caudal with filaments included ; caudal fin appar- 

 ently somewhat rounded about equal to distance from tip of snout to 

 base of preopercular spine ; anal with widely separated rays, increasing 

 gradually in length, but not reaching base of caudal, each ray with a 

 short filament, origin of fin a little nearer base of caudal than tip of 

 snout, its distance from tip of snout 1.8 in standard length; ventral 

 rather large, inferior, the rays slightly filamentous distally, longest 

 filament scarcely reaching opposite vent, inserted nearly equidistant 

 from tip of snout and vent, 1.3 in head; pectoral inserted about over 

 midlength of ventral, the rays filamentous distally, reaching slightly 

 beyond origin of anal, 1.8 in head. 



General color brownish above, pale underneath; back with a dark 

 cross line at base of first ray of second dorsal and another one at 

 base of its last ray ; side with indefinite dark spots and punctulations ; 

 first dorsal with a black spot at base of last ray; rays of second 

 dorsal with an elongate dusky spot somewhat above midlength ; caudal 

 fin with a dark bar on its base, its midsection and its margin slightly 

 darker than rest of fin ; each anal ray, exclusive of the first two, dis- 

 tally dusky, the filaments pale; ventral pale, with a few dusky dots 

 along the rays ; pectoral with a dusky spot at base of upper rays, fin 

 otherwise plain translucent. 



This apparently new species is represented in the collection by a 

 single specimen, the holotype (U.S.N.M. No. 144258), 35 mm. in 

 total and 28 mm. in standard length, which is in good condition except 

 that the abdomen has been excavated. S. talarae is the third species 

 of this genus to be described from the Pacific coast of America. The 

 other species are S. atrilahiatus (Garman) (1899, p. 122), described 

 from specimens dredged by the Albatross off Colombia in 112 fathoms 

 and in Panama Bay in 127 fathoms; and S. garthi (Scale) (1940, 

 p. 36, pi. 3), described from a specimen taken at Port Utria, northern 

 Colombia, by one of the Allan Hancock expeditions. The first-men- 

 tioned species is well described, but the size of the specimens upon 



