414 DR. GUNTHER ON THE FISHES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 
it would be better not to separate it; the only difference which I can find is the form 
of the soft dorsal fin, which is considerably higher than the spinous in the Mediterranean 
species. 
22. PRISTIPOMA MELANOPTERUM. 
Pristipoma melanopterum, Cuy. & Val. vy. 1830, p. 273. 
bilineatum, Cuv. & Val. v. 1830, p. 271, pl. 122. 
Hemulon melanopterum, Ranzani, Comm. Bonon. y. 1842, p. 343, tab. 30. 
Pristipoma melanopterum, Giinth. Fish. i. 1859, p. 287. 
Var. Genytremus interruptus, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Se. Philad. 1862, p. 256. 
Pristipoma melanopterum, Giinth. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, pp. 23 & 27. 
This species occurs on both sides of Central America, Capt. Dow having collected 
specimens at Panama and Colon. Mr. Gill has found it also in a collection of fishes 
from Lower California. He describes his Pacific specimen as a distinct species ; but the 
distinctive characters are, according to my views, not of specific value. He mentions it 
in the following terms :— 
“The species is so closely allied to dilineatus, that it might be even considered as a 
variety, but it appears to differ by the steel-blue colour of the back, and the discon- 
tinuance of the lateral band a short distance before the spot on the tail’; at its end the 
band is bounded below by the lateral line. In. other respects, the two species are so 
similar, that a detailed description would be only a repetition of that of bi/ineatus.” 
23. PRISTIPOMA VIRGINICUM. 
We have examined specimens of this species from the West Indies, from the Atlantic 
coasts of Central America, and from Bahia. Mr. Gill has described an example from 
Panama under the denomination of Anisotremus teniatus, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. 1861, 
p. 107. Although six or seven is the normal number of longitudinal bands, it is some- 
times increased by a more or less complete division of one or several bands. It appears 
to be more natural to consider the golden colour the ground-colour than the blue, as 
after death it fades into the same colour as that of the space between the black vertical 
bands. In ai/ specimens, I have found the bluish bands edged with purplish. Mr. Gill, 
in describing his A. teniatus, has taken the blue colour as ornamental, whilst in his 
description of A. virginicus the character assigned to the colours is reversed, and the 
blue colour regarded as ground-colour. ‘There is no specific difference between these 
fishes. 
24, PRISTIPOMA DOVIL. 
Giinth. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 23, pl. 3. fig. 1. 
D. 4. A.’ L, lat. 48. LL. transv, 8/15. 
The height of the body is one-half of the total length (without caudal); the length 
of the head one-third. Snout obtuse, not much longer than the eye; cleft of the 
1 This is also the case in some Atlantic specimens. 
