458 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
VIII. VERILUS. 
Verilus Poey, Memorias de Cuba, 11, 125, 1860 (sordadue): 
Type: Verilus sordidus Poey. 
Etymology: “ Veril, a Spanish word meaning ‘haut de fond coupé a 
pic,’ apparently an allusion to the form of the teeth. ‘Ne vous mettez 
pas en peine sur Vorigine du nom, les meilleurs, ne sont pas les plus 
étymologiques, par cela méme qwils ont une signification rarement 
exclusive.’” (Poey.) 
The genus is technically close to Htelis, although the single known 
species is very different from Htelis oculatus. The cavernous character 
of the skull is the most striking feature of the genus Verilus. 
ANALYSIS OF SPECIES OF VERILUS. 
a. Body oblong, compressed, rather robust; caudal peduncle short and thick; head 
large; profile almost straight from snout to origin of spinous dorsal, and not 
at all steep; snout very short and blunt, 4 in head; eye very large, 2% in head; 
interorbital space flat, its width 42 in head; occipital keel very low; preorbital 
very narrow, 7 in eye, nearly 20 in head; maxillary reaching middle of eye, 2 in 
head; mouth large, oblique, the lower jaw projecting; upper jaw with two mod- 
erate canines in front; lower jaw with two or three small canines directed nearly 
horizontally backward; vomer with a narrowly /-shaped patch of teeth; tongue 
and pterygoids without teeth; gill-rakers numerous, their length almost. half 
diameter of eye, X+17; preopercle with posterior margin weak and flexible, 
almost entire, becoming somewhat serrate at the angle and on lower limb; scales 
large; the rows horizontal below the lateral line; those above rather irregular, 
the series running upward and backward; head scaly everywhere, the scales 
generally smaller than on body; base of soft dorsal and anal somewhat scaly; 
spinous and soft dorsals entirely separate; first spine 4} in second, which is 2% 
in head, the spines thence becoming gradually shorter to ninth spine, which 
about equals length of first spine; last rays of dorsal and anal not produced; 
anal similar to soft dorsal, its margin rather more concave; anal spines moder- 
ate, the third slightly longer than second; caudal fin short, broad, moderately 
forked, the upper lobe longer, its length scarcely twice that of middle rays; pec- 
torals long, reaching to origin of anal, 1+ in head; pseudobranchi very evident. 
Color dusky gray, slightly paler below; tips of spinous dorsal and ventrals jet 
black, the fins otherwise colored as the body; posterior edge of caudal dusky; 
lining of gill-cavity, peritoneum, and posterior part of mouth jet black. Head, 
22; depth,3. D.1x,10; A.1m,7. Scales, 4-43-9; 41 pores..---..: SORDIDUS, 28. 
28. VERILUS SORDIDUS. (Escolar Chino.) 
Verilus sordidus Poey, Memorias, 11, 125, 1860, tab. 12, f. 6 (Cuba); Poey, Repertorio, 
11, 157, 1867; Poey, Synopsis, 291, 1868; Poey, Enumeratio, 32, 1875. 
Habitat: About Cuba in deep water. 
Ktymology: Sordidus, sordid, from the dull color, in contrast with 
the brightness of Htelis oculatus. 
This species is rarely taken in deep water off the coast of Cuba. It 
is known to the fishermen as Hscolar chino. It has never been seen 
elsewhere. The specimen before us was obtained in the Havana 
market. 
