THE FISHES OF SAMOA. 



297 



919. Stethojulis phekadopleura Bleeker. Samoa; Solomon Is.; Ponape; New Guinea (Macleay); 

 East Indies. 



This is a common species in the East Indies; it also occurs abundantly in the South Seas. We 

 obtained 14 examples at Pago Pago and 54 at Apia. We have also examined specimens from Negros 

 in the Philippines. 



Life colors of Samoan specimens were noted as follows: 



(1) From Apia. Back clear olive-brown with rows of bluish white dots; belly abruptly white, a 

 golden brown boundary stripe widening into a grayish stripe below eye, edged above with a fine white 

 line; the boundary stripe faint with age; belly with 3 or 4 rows of blackish brown spots, one in each 

 scale; base of anal livid blue; a large black spot at base of caudal, surrounded by orange-brown (fainter 

 and more diffuse in old examples, in which the gray stripe below eye is lost, the pale line above it 

 remaining distinct); dorsal orange, dull with bluish and orange spots; caudal dull orange and livid 

 bluish; ventral same, as is also the anal; pectoral colorless; iris reddish; axil unmarked. The lack of 

 axil markings, the white dots above and dark below are characteristic. 



(2) From Pago Pago. Green olive above; livid silvery below, brownish above posteriorly; head 

 and all upper parts finely dotted with pale bluish; lower parts with larger dark brown spots in 4 rows; 

 a pinkish white stripe before eye; a black spot on base of caudal above, faint in adult; fins all pale 

 brownish red, the dorsal very finely checked; a pinkish streak below eye, breaking into spots behind; 

 anal livid bluish. 



Fig. 52.— Stethojulis phekadopleura Bleeker. 



(3) From Pago Pago. Very finely dotted above, coarsely spotted below; no axil or caudal spol : 

 a silvery streak below eye; fins reddish; dorsal much speckled. 



(4) Very young; from Pago Pago. Bright reddish brown with a pale streak below eye and 

 another from snout above eye along side of back; bluish spots on scales and some black ones on side 

 of belly; a black spot at base of caudal and another on upper fin rays; caudal colorless; other fins 

 orange. 



920. Stethojulis axillaris Quoy & Gaimard. Hawaii. 



This species, as understood by us, is found only about the Hawaiian Islands, where it is rather 

 common. Farther south it is represented by a marked subspecies or closely related species, with 

 slenderer body and paler lower parts, Stethojulis bandanensis of Bleeker. It is barely possible that 

 larger series may show the two to be identical, as supposed by Bleeker and Giinther. 



921. Stethojulis bandanensis (Bleeker). Samoa; Palau Is.; Solomon Is.; Fiji; Tahiti; New 



Hebrides; Ponape; New Guinea. (PI. slv, fig. 2.) 



Julis bandanensis Bleeker, Banda, I, 254; Banda. 



Stetliojulaa axillaris Bleeker, Atlas. Labr., 136, tab.XLiv, fig. 3, 1862, East Indies; not of Quoy & Gaimard. Giinther, 

 Fische der Siidsee, 254, taf. 136, fig. c, Palau, Solomon, Fiji, Samoa, Society Is., New Hebrides, I'minpe. 



This species has been confused with Stethojulis axillaris (Quoy & Gaimard), of Hawaii, to which it 

 is closely related. The only tangible differences are these: Stethojulis axillaris lias the body deeper, 



B. B. F. 1905—20 



