[59] 



REVIEW OF THE LABROID FISHES. 657 



Malacocentrus Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci., 18G2, 143 (tamiunis, " ventrals subjugular")- 

 Dimalacocentrus Gill, op. cit.,1863, 223 (kallosoma, "first two dorsal spines 

 more or less detached''). 



Type : Coryphama novacula L. 

 Etymology: Supov, razor; tyOuq, tisb. 



ANALYSIS OF AMEKICAN SPECIES OF XYRICTITIIYS. 



a. Anterior profile of head simply convex, not parabolic ; preorbital moderate, its 

 depth not half of head ; eye not placed very high, its diameter in the 

 adult more than half depth of preorbital ; anterior edge of head 

 scarcely trenchant ; first two spines of dorsal not pungent, more or less 

 elevated in the young. 



b. *Two anterior spines of dorsal more or less elevated, their length (in young) two- 

 thirds that of head, their tips filamentous (Dimalacocentrus Gill). 

 c. Third and fourth spines of dorsal lowest, the spines thence slightly increasing 

 to the last ; second spine connected by a membrane with the third ; 

 caudal rounded ; a series of small scales below eye ; head otherwise 

 naked. Color (male) light olive, head more yellowish ; body with five 

 brownish cross-bars, the first obscure at the nape, the last forming a 

 blotch at base of caudal ; a small yellowish spot at base of caudal, and 

 a fainter one above it ; cheeks and lower jaw banded ; an olive blotch 

 on opercle ; some brown dots behind eye ; dorsal cherry- red, paler pos- 

 teriorly, darkest on the produced anterior rays; caudal pale; anal 

 cherry-red, with two spots of deeper red ; pectorals plain ; ventrals 

 deep pherry-red. Female, orange brown, much mottled, five cross- 

 bands darker and broader than in the male; two yellowish brown 

 bands across from eye over lower jaw ; two similar bands across breast 

 before ventrals ; caudal and pectorals plain ; ventrals deep brownish 

 red. Head 3§- in length; depth 3£ ; D., IX, 13 ; A., Ill, 12 ; Lat. 1. 23 or 24. 



Rosipes, 68. 



bb. Anterior spines of dorsal not elevated above the others in the adult Cin the 

 young slightly produced). (Novaculiclitliys Bleeker.) 



o. Ventral fins much produced ending in long filaments ; in the adult, 4; longer 

 than head and reaching much beyond front of anal ; shorter in the 

 young ; a black ocellus on middle of side ; depth 3£ in length ; preorb- 

 ital 3 in head, 1£ times diameter of eye ; two anterior dorsal spines in 

 adult a little shorter and less sharp than the others, which are slender 

 but pungent ; in young longer than the others ; some small scales 

 below eye. Olive, redder below, the head with sharply defined blue 

 vertical bars alternating with yellowish ones ; central part of sides 

 with a large sharply defined inky black spot (sometimes a smaller one 

 below it) in the center of a large silvery blotch ; soft dorsal and anal 

 with oblique bluish streaks ; caudal with vertical streaks ; no black 

 ocelli on fins ; young with the silvery blotch obsolete and the black 

 spot on side nearly or quite so ; the head plain, vertical fins all with, 

 oblique dark bars ; back with darker cross-shades 1 Splendens, 69. 



* This character is of little value, as it may disappear with age. Some or all of the 

 species called " Dimalococentrus" may be the young of Novaculiclithys. 



t Very closely related to X splendens and to X . rosipes is a species described by Dr. 

 Bean as X. ventralis in a paper published since the present account was written. The 

 form of head and body is the same in the three, and X ventralis and X splendens agree 

 in the prolongation of the ventrals. X ventralis lacks the silvery lateral blotch and 

 black ocellus; there is a broad red lateral shade ; the stripes on the head are fewer 

 than in X splendens, and the anal and caudal are nearly plain. Perhaps this species 

 may prove to be the adult form of X rosipes. 

 H. Mis. 133 42 



