536 NEW YORK STATE MUSE,UM 



supraoccipital coiinecting the parietal crests; posterior processes 

 of premaxillaries not reaching frontals. The characteristic 

 smooth area on top of cranium very short and small. Dor&al 

 short, its rays X, 11; anal rays III, 7; caudal usually 

 three lobed or double concave; the canines very weak and the 

 top of the head naked. The ventrals as in P r i o n o d e s , close 

 together and inserted in advance of axil of pectoral; pectoral 

 with 19 rays, its upper half truncate behind. The three species 

 of Centropristes are closely related. 



264 Centropristes striatus (Linnaeus) 

 Sea Bass; Bdackfish 



Labrus striatus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. X, 285, 1758, America. 

 Perca atraria Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. XII, 485, 1766, Carolina. 

 Perca varia Mitchilu, Rep. Fish. N. Y. 11, 1814; Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. 



N. Y. I, 415, pi. 3, fig. 6, 1815, New York. 

 Centro'pristes nigricans Cuviek & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, 37,. 



pi. 44, 1829, New York; De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 24, pi. 2, fig. 6^ 



1842; Bean, IDth Rep. Gomm. Pish. N. Y. 266, pi. XVII, fig. 21, 1890. 

 Centropristes atrarius Gunther, Gat. Pish. Brit. Mus. I, 86, 1859; Goode «& 



Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 19, 1879. 

 Serranus atrarius Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 533, 1883. 

 Serranus nigrescens Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 917, 1883. 

 Centropristes striatus Jordan & Eigenmann, Bull. U. S. P. O. VIII, 391^ 



pi. 64, 1890; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1199, 1896, 



pi. GXC, fig. 500, 1900; Bean, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 366, 1897; 



H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. P. 0. 1897, 100, 1898; Bean, 52d Ann. Rep. 



N. Y. State Mus. 105, 1900; Sherwood & Edwards, Bull. U. S. P. G. 



1901, 28, 1901. 



Body ovate, robust, the back somewhat elevated; axis of 

 body below the middle of the depth. The length of the body i» 

 three times its depth and two and three fourths times the length 

 of the head. Head large, thick, little compressed, somewhat 

 pointed; top of head naked; cheeks and opercles scaly; scales on 

 cheeks in about 11 rows. Mouth oblique, low, rather large, the 

 premaxillary below the level of the eye; lower jaw prominent; 

 maxillary broad, its upper edge anteriorly slipping under the 

 edge of the preorbital, which is nearly as wide as the 

 eye. Eye large, wider than interorbital space, less than 

 snout, 4i in head. Gill rakers long, about 18 below the angle* 

 Oanines very small, scarcely differentiated. Teeth all fixed, the 



