ICHTHYOLOGY. 



23 



CARANGUS, Girard. 



Gent. Char. — Narrow patches of velvet-like teeth on the palatines, front of vomer, and upper jaw, which is, moreover, 

 provided with an external row of small ones of a conical and acerated form. The lower jaw having but one row of the latter 

 kind. Profile of the head more or less rounded or convex. A small horizontal spine directed forwards in advance of the first 

 dorsal. Two spines in advance of the anal. Pectoral fins elongated and falciform. Lateral line shielded along the flank and 

 peduncle of the tail. 



To this genus we can already refer with certainty Caranx clmjsos, Cuv. & Val.; Caranx 

 llax, Cuv. & Val.; Caranx pisquetus, Cuv. & Val.; Caranx bartholomaei, Cuv. & Val.; 



fi 



deft 



DeKay ; 



falcatuSj Holbr.; and, Caranx richardi y Holbr. 



CAEANGUS ESCULENTUS, Grd. 



Plate XI, Figs. 1—3. 



Spec. Char. — Body compressed ; greatest depth contained three times in the total length, in which the head enters four 

 times. Caudal deeply furcated, either lobe being equal to the head in length. The diameter of the eye is contained four 

 times in the length of the side of the head. The gape of the mouth is slightly oblique, the posterior extremity of the maxillary 

 corresponding to a vertical line intersecting the posterior rim of the pupil. Two canine teeth, larger than the rest, near the 

 symphysis of the lower jaw: one on either side. Lateral line curved from its origin to opposite the fifth or sixth ray of the 

 second dorsal, hence straight and shielded to the base of the caudal. Scales small and inconspicuous in young specimens. 



Syn. — Scomber carangus, Bloch. — Shaw, Gen. Zool. IV, 1800, 599. 



Caranx carangus, Cuv. &. Val. Hist. nat. Poiss. IX, 1833, 91.— Storer, Synops. 1846, 101. 



The general coloration is silvery, with a lead or violet tint along the upper surface of the 

 head and dorsal region. A black spot upon the edge of the opercle ; a bluish patch at the 

 posterior edge of the elevated portion of the second dorsal fin, and a brownish filet along the 



The fins otherwise are yellowish. The young exhibit dark vertical bands 

 (figs. 2 and 3). These bands are sometimes still present on specimens of the size of fig. 1. 



Plate XI, fig, 1 — 3 ; represents three stages in the growth of Carangus esculentus, which is 

 said to attain occasionally a weight of twenty-five pounds. 



List of specimens. 



edge of the caudal. 



Catal. 

 No. 





No. of 

 6pec. 



Age. 



708 

 709 



715 



12 

 1 



3 



Locality 



When col- 

 lected. 



Young 



Whence obtained. 



Brazos Santiago, Texas 



Mouth of Rio Grande del 



Norte (Rio Bravo). 

 Brazos Santiago, Texas 



1853 

 1853 



1853 



G. Wiirdemann 



Nature of 

 specimens. 



Collected by 



Major Emory 



G. Wiirdemann ♦ . . . 



Alcoholic. 



do 



• .do. • ■ . 



G. Wiirdemann 

 John H. Clark. 



G. Wiirdemann 



ARGYEEIOSUS CAFILLAPJS, DeKay. 



Plate XI, Fig. 7. 



Spec. Char. — The greatest depth taken obliquely between the origin of the second dorsal and the insertion of the ventrals is 

 equal to the length measured from the extremity of the snout to the origin of the caudal peduncle. The snout itself is slightly 

 protruding, and the profile of the head steeper than in •#. vomer. The outline of the occipital region constitutes an arc of a 

 circle rather than a plane. The peduncle of the tail is somewhat inclined downwards. Anterior two rays of the dorsal fin 

 prolonged into long filaments. 



Syn.— Zeus capMaris, Mitch, (non Bloch) in Trans. Lit. & Philos. Soc. N. T. I, 1815, 383; pi. ii, fig. 2. 



rfrgyreiosus capillaris, DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, IV, 1842, 125; pi. xxvii, fig. 62.— Storer, Synops. 1846, 104. 



Bd. in Rep. Smiths. Inst. IX, (1854) 1855, 337. 



