668 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [70] 



83. CALLYODONTICHTHYS BLEEKERI. 



Callyodontichthys flavescens Bleeker, Scarid., 2, 1861 (Bahia), not Scarus flavescens 



Bleeker). 

 Callyodontichthys bleeker i Steindachner, Ichthyol., Mittheilungen, v, 1862. 



Habitat. — Coast of Brazil. 

 Etymology : Named for Pieter van Bleeker. 



This species is unknown to us, and we are unable to give any of its 

 specific characters. 



Genus XXVIII.- SPAKISOM A. 



» 

 Sparisoma Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class'n, Fishes, etc., 1839, ii, 227 (abildgaardi). 



Scarus Bleeker, Versl. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, xii, 1861, Scaroid, 3 {cretensis). 



Scarus Giinther, Poey, Guichenot et Auct. (cretensis). 



Sparisoma Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 938 (abildgaardi). 



Type. — Sparus abildgaardi Bloch. 



Etymology : Zndpoq, Sparus, ancient name of some Sparoid fish ; adjfia, 

 body. Sparus is said to be from a-naipioy to gasp. 



We have elsewhere given the reasons which have led us to retain the 

 name Scarus for the group (Pseudoscarus) to which the species originally 

 described as Scarus by Forskal belong. 



This being done, the only name applicable to the present group is 

 that of Sparisoma Swainson. As originally defined this generic name 

 was a useless synonym, like nearly all the other generic names of fishes 

 proposed by Swainson. It was supposed to differ from the Pctronason 

 of the same author in the presence of hexagonal scales, sharp incisive 

 teeth and obtuse canines. As, however, its type, S. abildgaardi, is a 

 member of the present genus, the name should not be set aside. 



ANALYSIS OF SPECIES OF SPARISOMA. 



Common characters. — Lower pharyngeal broader than long, snbhexagonal, its sur- 

 face moderately concave or flattish ; teeth in each jaw largely coalescent in the adult, 

 their tips more or less separate in the young, the edge, especially of the lower jaw, 

 remaining uneven ; the median suture in each jaw present, but not well denned ; one 

 to four tadiating canines sometimes present on each side of upper jaw above its cut- 

 ting edge;* gill membranes broadly united to the isthmus; dorsal spines pungent; 

 upper lip double for its entire length; lower jaw projecting beyond upper ; lateral 

 line not interrupted, passing gradually from its row of scales posteriorly to the series 

 next below it ; tubes of lateral line much branched ; scales about head large, those on 

 cheek in a single row, those on the median line in front of dorsal three or four in num- 

 ber. Species of rather small size, most of them American. 

 a. Upper jaw never with posterior lateral canines. 

 b. Caudal slightly rounded, the angles not produced. 



y. Scales of lateral line and nape not black ; cheeks with 

 three scales. Color purple or purplish-brown, with 

 brownish shade on anterior part of body, this shade 

 forming generally a large, distinct, dark blotch be- 

 tween the pectoral and lateral line; caudal violet, 

 with a white baud at tip and obscure cross-bars. 



Cketense, 84. 



*In some species having normally one or more canine teeth, some or all of them are 

 occasionally absent — on one or both sides. 



