262 KXPEDITIOX OF THK ■ AL15AT1{()SS," I,sm)-I9()(). 



Sphyraena forsteri ('ivikk & \'alenciennes. 



Hist. Nat. Poiss., 1829, 3, p. 2t>l (3.53) ami La Spliyrono <le Forstcr, ibid., 1S31, 7, p. 3S-_' (.W!)). 

 Bleeker, Nat. Tijds. Ned. Ind., 1S.52, 3, p. S2. 



Sphymenaloxewna¥ov,hEii,.]ourn. .\cad. Xal.Sci. I'hila., 1904, «-r. 2, 12, p. .■)()2, pi. 9, lit;. 2 (iiiidillr). 



One specimen, No. A140, III inches long from Suva, Fiji Islands. 



This specimen agrees ahnost exactly with the description and figure of 

 Sphyraena toxeuma Fowler (loc. cit.). Our specimen has 120 develoi)ed scales, 

 but counting to a line across from origin of marginal caudal rays there are only 

 110. 



Head from tip of snout 3.23 in length without caudal, from tip of lower 

 jaw 2.97; eye 4.88 in head, considerably greater than interorbital, 2.28 in snout; 

 maxillary not quite reaching eye, 2.21+ in head; mandible 1.46+ ; dorsal 

 V-I, 10; anal II, 8; scales 13-120-13 (oblicjue rows counted downward and 

 forward from front of first dorsal to and including the one in lateral line, and 

 from lateral line to front of anal. 



(S. toxeuma is based on a specimen which Fowler considers specificall>- identi- 

 cal with a species described by Bleeker ami referred with doubt to S. forsteri. 



Fowler considers Giinther's Siidsee figure of a hsh from Tahiti as certainly 

 referable to S. forsteri. It shows more longitudinal scales and a much smaller 

 eye. 



S. forsteri of Giinther, Cat., 2, p. 337, is doubtless the same as Bleeker's, 

 so far as the description indicates, but his figure in Siidsee is of a different species 

 with a much smaller eye. The statement in the description that the scales 

 are 90 must be an error, as many more are shown in the figiu-e. 



The description of " Sphyraena forsteri" in Histoire Naturellc dcs Poissons, 3, 

 is based on ;i drawing made by Forster from a sjjecimen taken at Otaiti, l)ut the 

 description is brief and insufficient and there is no character mentioned to 

 distinguish it. It is stated, however, that the form is exactly that of the Sphy- 

 raena of Europe. In that sjx'cies the eye is S in head and the scales 150 accord- 

 ing to Cuvier i*i: Valencieimes. But nothing indicates that these are so in *S'. 

 forsteri. In the ailditions and corrections in vol. 7 (Hist. Nat. Poiss.), it is 

 stated however thai furthci- siicciniciis show that it is really dinVrciit. Its 

 dorsal and ventrals are ad\-aiicc(l, as in S.jdlo. in Iront of the points of the pec- 



