G72 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [74] 



Very little is known of this species. As the genus Sparisoma is chiefly 

 confined to American waters, we include the species in the present 

 paper as possibly American. 



86. SPARISOMA FLAVESCENS. 



Vieja Parra, Descr. Piezas Dif. Hist. Nat., 1787, 59, pi. 28, f. 4 (Cuba). 



Scarus Jlavescens Block & Schneider, Syst. Ichtb., 1801, 290 (after Parra); Poey, 



Euumeratio, 1875, 113 (identification of Sc. squalidus with Parra's figure) ; 



Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 137 (Key West). 

 Callyodon Jlavescens Cuv. & Val., xiv, 288, 1839 (after Parra). 

 Sparisoma Jlavescens Jordan & Swain, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 92 (Havana, Key 



West) ; Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1886, 47 (Havana); Bean, Bull. U. S. 



Fish Com., 1888, 198 (Cozuinel). 

 Scar us rubripinnis Cuv. & Val., xiv, 199, 1839 (San Domingo) ; Gunther, iv, 211 



(copied); Guichenot, 13, 1865 (copied); ? Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, 1871, 



462 (St. Croix). 

 f Scarus virens Cuv. & Val., xiv, 203, 1839 (Porto Rico; Martinique). 

 Scarus squalidus Poey, Mem., ii, 218, 1860 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 338; Jordan & 



Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1883, 938 (Garden Key); GUnther, iv, 212, 1862, 



(copied). 

 ? Scarus chloris Guichenot, Scarides, 1865, 14 (San Domingo, type of Scarus virens ; not 



of Bloch & Schneider). 

 f Scarus truncatus Poey, Synopsis, 1868, 339 (Havana) ; Poey, Enumeratio, 1875, 114; 



Poey, Fauna Puerto-Riqueiia, 308, 1878 (Puerto Rico). 



Habitat — West Indian fauna, Key West to Brazil. 



Etymology: Flavescens, yellowish. 



This species is excessively common at Key West, swarming every- 

 where about the island in the eel-grass. It rarely exceeds a foot in 

 length. At Havana it is apparently equally common, the numbers seen 

 in the market exceeding that of all the other species combined. It is 

 one of the least brightly colored of the species of the genus. As a food 

 fish, this, like the others, is held in low esteem. The flesh, although 

 not unpleasant in flavor, is soft and rather poor. In the Havana market 

 it is usually called Vieja colorada, but the species of this group are sel- 

 dom distinguished by fishermen. In the museum at Cambridge are 

 specimens of &p. flavescens from St. Thomas, Jer^mie, Hayti, Port au 

 Prince, Tortugas, Nassau, and Rio Janeiro. It was found in abundance 

 at St. Lucia by the Albatross. 



We follow Poey in identifying with this species the Vieja of Parra, 

 which is made the type of Scarus flavescens of Schneider. Valenciennes 

 has made of this " Vieja" a Galliodon, and Bleeker a Gallyodontichthys. 

 Parra's figure seems not unlike this species, but we should not have 

 ventured so to consider it except for the authority of Poey. There 

 seems to be little doubt that this species is the original Scarus rubipin- 

 niSj as well as the Scarus squalidus of Poey. The Scarus virens O. & V., 

 and Scarus truncatus of Poey either belong to this species or to some one 

 very closely related to it, possibly distinguished by a truncate caudal. 

 In the form of the caudal this species shows some variation. 



If the name flavescens is considered too uncertain for adoption, Spari- 

 soma rubripinne comes next in order of time. 



