A Collection of Fishes from Samoa. 



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spinous anal origin; about 40 predorsal scales; head width 1.8 its length; head depth 

 at occiput 1.4; mandible 2.1; sixth dorsal spine 3.8; sixth dorsal ray 2.75; second anal 

 spine 5; sixth anal ray 2.75; least depth of caudal peduncle 3; caudal 1.87; pectoral 

 1.6; ventral 3.12; snout 5 in head, measured from upper jaw tip; eye 5; maxillary 2; 

 interorbital 7.5. 



Body oblong, compressed, deepest at front of spinous dorsal, edges rounded con- 

 vexly. Caudal peduncle well compressed, length about seven-eighths its least depth. 



Head compressed, upper profile little more inclined than lower, flattened sides 

 slightly approximated above. Snout convex over surface and in profile, short, length 

 half its width. Eye small, advanced, posterior pupil edge near first third in head 

 length. Mouth large, oblique, lower jaw prominent and slightly protrudes, rami 

 robust and moderately high inside mouth. Maxillary extends back slightly beyond 

 posterior edge of eye, though not quite halfway in head length, expansion equals eye. 

 Lips fleshy, moderately broad. Teeth fine, pointed, in bands in jaws and on vomer and 

 palatines. Tongue rather slender fleshy point, free and smooth. Anterior nostril 

 in short tube near front end of snout, posterior one simple pore close to anterior edge of 

 eye medially. Interorbital narrow, nearly level. Preorbital narrow, less than half of 

 eye. Preopercle edge uneven, largely convex. 



Fig. 1. — Gnathypo-ps samoensis Fowler and Silvester. Type. 



Gill-opening in front of posterior edge of eye. Rakers iv 1+6 in, broad, asperous 

 knobs, longest three-fourths of filaments and latter one-third of eye. Pseudobranchia 

 large as gill-filaments. Isthmus moderately broad, slightly constricted forward. 



Scales moderate, smooth on front part of body, as on head, predorsal, breast, and 

 trunk toward end of depressed pectoral, after which finely ciliated entirely. Scales 

 on trunk in even longitudinal rows, small and crowded along edges of body, though 

 less on breast than at most areas. Snout, front preorbital, maxillary, lips, chin, and 

 branchiostegal region naked, head otherwise scaly. Several pores on suborbital 

 chain close to eye, others on mandible. Fourteen scales across widest extent of cheek. 

 Scales on opercle largest on head. Fins all with small scales basally, extending well 

 out on dorsals and anals. Scales with basal parallel marginal striffi 11 to 13; circuli 

 parallel laterally and same end as 4 or 5 apical denticles of small size. Lateral line 

 only as superior branch from shoulder along back near upper profile, and not extending 

 beyond soft dorsal. Tubes simple, large, well exposed. 



Spinous dorsal inserted over origin of pectoral, spines all slender, low, pungent, 

 graduated up to third and then about uniform. Soft dorsal inserted about midway 

 between posterior edge of preopercle and base of caudal, fin uniformly high, rounded 

 behind, and like soft anal posterior rays extend back to caudal base. Second anal 

 spine longest, first little longer than third, origin much nearer origin of pectoral than 

 base of caudal. Soft anal Uke soft dorsal. Caudal rounded, with median rays longest. 

 Pectoral elongate, pointed median rays longest, reaching anal. Ventral origin slightly 



