THE FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 355 



Dr. Abbott records this fish from an example taken in Dela- 

 ware Bay said to be in the collection of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia. At present I am unable to locate it, 

 and have no record of it on the Museum catalogues. Of course 

 its place in our fauna is that of a tropical straggler. It is a large 

 showy fish. 



Holacanthus ciliaris Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 811. 



Family HARPURID^. 



The Surgeon Fishes. 



Body oblong, compressed and usually elevated. Eye lateral, 

 high up. Preorbital very narrow and deep. Mouth small, low. 

 Each jaw with a single series of narrow incisor-like teeth. 

 Vomer and palatines toothless. Premaxillaries somewhat mov- 

 able, but not protractile. Maxillary short, closely united with 

 premaxillaries. Nostrils double. Gill-membranes attached to 

 isthmus, openings thus restricted to sides. Gills 4, a slit behind 

 fourth. Gill-rakers obsolete. Pseudobranchiae large. Pelvic 

 bones long, narrow, curved, closely connected, evident through 

 skin as in Balistidce. Pyloric coeca rather few. Air-vessel large. 

 Intestinal canal long. Vertebrae 9 + 13 = 22. Posterior sub- 

 orbital bones in close contact with preopercle. Post-temporal 

 immovably united with skull, apparently simple, but really trifur- 

 cate with interspaces filled in with bone, foramen not passing 

 through it. Interneural bones with transversely expanded 

 buckler-like subcutaneous plates which intervene between spaces 

 and limit their motion forwards. Epipleurals developed from 

 ribs. Body covered with very small scales. Lateral line continu- 

 ous. Tail armed with i or more spines or bony plates. A single 

 dorsal fin with strong spines, and spinous portion shorter than 

 rayed portion. Anal similar to rayed dorsal. Pectorals moder- 

 ate. Ventrals present, thoracic, mostly I, 5. 



Herbivorous fishes of the tropical seas. They undergo changes 

 with age as in the Chcetodontidcc. One species straying to our 

 shores. 



