326 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



protruded presenting a subconicotublar appearance. When re- 

 tracted posterior extremity of maxillary extends slightly beyond 

 vertical of anterior rim of eye. Lips thin. Palatines and tongue 

 toothless. Opercular apparatus without either spines or serra- 

 tures. Scales large. Base of spinous dorsal equals that of rayed 

 dorsal. Posterior extremity of soft dorsal rays extending a little 

 more backwards than those of anal fin. Second anal spine not 

 much developed. Ground color silvery with transverse fasciae of 

 a darker hue in immature examples. Length 3 inches. Great 

 Egg Harbor River and small bays at Beesley's Point. (Baird.) 



I have no New Jersey examples. It is a small species reaching 

 a length of 5 inches and occurs on sandy shores. 



Bucinostomus argenteus Baird and Girard, in Baird, 9th An. 

 Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1854, p. 345. — Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 

 809. 



Gerres argenteus Bean, Bull. U. S. E. Com., VII, 1887, p. 138. 



Family MULLID^. 



The Sur Mullets. 



Body elongate, slightly compressed. Upper profile of head 

 more or less parabolic. Mouth small, low, subterminal. Eye 

 moderate, placed high. Two long unbranched barbels at throat, 

 attached just behind symphysis of lower jaw. Teeth mostly 

 small, variously placed. No canines, incisors or molars. Pre- 

 maxillaries somewhat protractile. Maxillaries thin, nearly as 

 broad at base as at tip, without supplemental bone and partly 

 hidden by broad preorbital. Preopercle entire or slightly serrate. 

 Opercle unarmed or with a long spine. Pseudobranchiae present. 

 Branchiostegals 4. Air-vessel usually present, simple. Pyloric 

 coeca about 20. Vertebrae 9-1-14=23. Stomach siphonal. 

 Body covered with large scales, usually slightly ctenoid. Large 

 scales on head. Dorsal fins 2, remote from each other, both short, 

 first of VI to VIII rather high spines depressible in a groove. 

 Anal short, similar to rayed dorsal with I or II small spines. 

 Ventrals thoracic, I, 5. 



Fishes of the tropical seas, one species straying to our coast. 

 Many are highly valued as food-fishes. 



