220 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Family H0L0CENTRID£. 



MYEIPRISTIS Cuvier. Malau. 



351. Myripristis murdjan (Forskal). Manifinifi. Hawaii; Samoa; Harvey Is.: Tahiti; Fiji; Paumotu 



Is.; Guam; Laysan; New Hebrides, Raiatea, and Rarotonga (Seale); East Indies. 

 Thihi species is common throughout the South Seas. It is the most abundant of the genus about 

 Hawaii, and is fairly plentiful at Samoa. It is distinguished by its large scales (30), by the presence 

 of white edges on the soft vertical fins and the absence of black tips on dorsal and anal. There is 

 always a dark bar across the gill-opening. 



352. Myripristis intermedins (Gunther). Malau. Samoa; Kingsmill; Harvey Is. ; Tahiti; Gala- 



pagos Is. 

 Myripristis murdjan, var. intermedia Gunther, Fische der Siidsee, 92, Samoa, Harvey, Kingsmill, Tahiti. 



This form is common at Samoa, where about 20 examples were taken. It differs from -1/. murdjan 

 chiefly or entirely in the presence of a black blotch on the tip of the soft dorsal and anal. Dr. Gunther 

 regards it as a mere color variation of M. murdjan. We should take a similar view were it not for the 

 fact noted by Dr. Klunzinger, that in the Red Sea, and in Hawaii, where M[. murdjan is abundant, no 

 specimens of this type have been taken. 



A specimen from the Galapagos Islands, collected by Snodgrass and Heller and recorded as 

 M. murdjan, has black tips to the dorsal and anal, and would be referable to M. intermedius. 



Color deep red, dusky on dorsal and anal, fins all bright red, pale-edged in front. 



353. Myripristis cdustus Bleeker. Malau no. Samoa; Tahiti; Paumotu Is.; Harvey Is. ; Kings- 



mill; New Guinea; Marcus I.; Shortland I. (Seale); East Indies. 

 Myripristis adastus Bleeker, Amboina, in, 18, East Indies. Gunther, Cat., I, 22, Amboina. Gunther, Fische der 



Siidsee, 92, taf. 82, Tahiti, as variety of 1 if. murdjan, Samoa, Paumotu, Harvey I., Kingsmill I. Bryan & 



Herre, Bishop Museum, vol. n, no. 1, 128, Marcus I. 

 Myripristis botche. Day, Fishes of India, 169; not of Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



This well-marked and handsome species is rather common about Samoa, where about 12 speci- 

 mens were taken. It may be at once known from M. murdjan by the steel blue (not red) color, and 

 especially by the broad black edging of both dorsals, and of the caudal and anal fins. In M. inter- 

 medins there is no black on the spinous dorsal or caudal. 



Life colors of a specimen from Apia, gray tinged with reddish; edge of scales brown; a dark- 

 brown blotch across opercle and axil; dorsal, anal and caudal pale pinkish gray at base, the edge 

 broadly black, washed anteiiorly with blood-red; spinous dorsal also mostly black; iDectoral pale 

 pinkish; ventral whitish. 



354. Myripristis microphthalmus Bleeker. Malau tea; Malau mataputa. Samoa; New Guinea 



(Macleay); Fate, New Hebrides (Seale); East Indies. 

 This species is very abundant at Samoa, where about 40 specimens were taken. It has the silvery 

 luster and dark scale-edgings of Myripristis adustus without the deep red shades of M. murdjan. Life 

 colors were noted in various specimens as follows: 



(1) Specimen from Apia. Silvery red brown, lighter than in M. murdjan, each scale silvery with 

 dark edges; opercular spot blood red, not black; same color on base of pectoral; fins paler; dorsal and 

 anal with silvery base; dorsal, anal, caudal, and ventral with pale edge; spinous dorsal orange red, its 

 base pale grayish, blotched with orange. 



(2) Specimen from Pago Pago, very deep, scales 30, maxillary entire. Brownish, sides pinkish 

 silvery, not very red; a blackish red cross-band on opercle, shoulder, and axil; first dorsal whitish at 

 base, scarlet above; second dorsal, anal, and caudal pink, scarlet or orange at tips, and with a dictinct 

 white edge; pectoral pale; ventral dull orange, whitish-edged. 



(3) Specimen called malau mataputa, or swelled-face; very deep; very large-scaled. Purplish black 

 above, very silvery on side; a blood-red band from nape to axil; preopercle and opercle nearly white; 

 spinous dorsal pinkish below, scarlet above; soft dorsal and anal pinkish behind, scarlet on lobes, with 

 white edge; caudal red, orange behind, the edges slightly pale; ventral and pectoral reddish, ventral 

 white-edged. 



Larger examples more red, with dusky behind pale edges of dorsal and anal; fins all bright red 

 except white edgings. 



(4) Red, dusky on dorsal and anal; fins all bright red, pale-edged in front. 



(5) Larger specimen. Dorsal clear deep red. 



