BULLET* of the united states fish commission. 
296 
soft dorsal, its origin under base of third or fourth dorsal ray, its spines obscure, its rays equal to those 
of dorsal; caudal short, doubly lunate, the outer rays slightly produced, their length equal to distance 
from tip of snout to middle of pupil, or exceeding the shortest rays by an eye’s diameter; middle 
caudal ray slightly longer than the next one on either side; ventrals short, reaching halfway to vent, 
their length less than that of snout bv a pupil’s diameter; pectoral short, broad, rhombic, the upper 
edge being longest, the free edge but little shorter, the upper rays longest, 1.6 in head, the lowermost 
ray 3.5 in the upper; scales large, thin and leathery, those on breast considerably reduced; head 
entirely naked; lateral line nearly straight from origin to vertical of last dorsal ray but 3, where it 
curves downward and proceeds to the base of caudal on the third series below; pores of lateral line 
beautifully and numerously branched, the branches ranging from 4 to 8 or 10 in number. 
Color, nearly fresh, very brilliant, bright grass-green, the belly abruptly bright blue, top of head livid 
purplish, lower part of head deep blue, cheeks and opercle green, edged with blue; salmon-scarlet dash 
across cheek; blotches on side of back livid violet lavender; 2 stripes on side and some odd scales a 
peculiar dull scarlet red, same as head markings; 2 similar stripes across base, or in front of pectoral, 
the stripes edged with blue; dorsal lavender at base, the upper half blue; caudal blue, with lavender 
streaks and blotches; anal like the dorsal, greenish at edge; ventrals plain blue; pectorals blue, black¬ 
ish above, the axil red; upper lip pale edged; lateral bands not serrated; no black dorsal spot. 
Color of same specimen in spirits, pale bluish green; top of head and snout with a broad purplish 
atea extending from nape over interorbital to near tip of snout, and extending down on side of snout 
in an irregularly pointed angle to near gape, dull purplish; in front of this on snout, a narrow pea- 
green stripe uniting on sides with the color of the cheeks; in front of this a narrow purplish line, 
partly upon skin of premax diaries and extending on side to posterior angle of mouth, rest of skin of 
premax diaries pea-green; under parts of head, lower jaw, and a broad band extending upward on the 
cheek, narrowly enveloping the eye except for a narrow space on the supraorbital and extending in 
a narrow point toward the occiput, pale pea-green; a large irregular yellowish-white marking from 
eye broadening downward across cheek and opercle, bifurcating on opercle, the lower branch extending 
downward to edge of subopercle, the other backward toward base of pectoral and terminating at edge 
of opercle; above this the opercle and humeral region are unicolor with the cheek and lower parts of 
head; edge of opercle above pectoral with a narrow dusky yellowish border, dark on anterior line; 
upper part of side at base of dorsal with a narrow irregular green line, outside of which is a greenish- 
purple line about 2 scales in width, extending from nape to posterior end of dorsal fin; side below 
this pale bluish green with broad yellowish-white lines, the upper extending from above base of 
pectoral to middle of base of caudal, the lower from lower base of pectoral along lower part of side, to 
caudal, these 2 lines approximately parallel and 2 scales apart; a few odd scales of same color; 
another line of same color from gill-opening under base of pectoral, terminating under tip of short 
pectoral rays; a more narrow, but similar, bar across base of pectoral; breast and belly bluish green; 
upper edge of caudal peduncle bluish purple; lower edge of caudal peduncle whitish; basal half of 
dorsal fin pale slaty olive or bluish purple; lower edge of caudal peduncle whitish; basal half of dorsal 
fin pale slaty olive or bluish purple; outer half of dorsal bright pea-green, the 2 colors separated by 
a narrow wavy black line, the lower band increasing abruptly at last dorsal ray, about three-fourths 
of which it covers; anal same color as dorsal; caudal irregularly bluish and greenish at base, the distal 
portion dusky yellowish, a bluish mark extending to tip of fin on produced portion above and below; 
edge of basal portion of outer ray, above and below, pale greenish; ventrals greenish white; pectoral 
greenish yellow, darker above, especially on outer ray, which is purplish black; axil somewhat dusky. 
The above description is based upon a specimen (No. 03390) 16 inches long, obtained at Honolulu 
July 8. 
Another specimen (No. 03731) 16 inches long, obtained at Kailua August 5, was described as fol¬ 
lows, as it appeared in life after having been placed in a small pool: Two bright coral-red stripes on 
body, one along middle of side, the other from lower base of pectoral to lower portion of caudal fin; 
body below this line bright cobalt-blue; between the 2 stripes, green above and blue below, blend¬ 
ing in center, the upper edge of scales in middle of these stripes with a coral-red patch; back emerald 
green, with 5 deep cardinal blotches on upper part of back, those nearest nape being largest, the size 
diminishing posteriorly; nape and snout darkish cardinal red, the patch on snout expanding laterally 
and forming a triangle in front of eye, the ventral angle of which terminates near posterior end of 
gape; tip of snout blue, with a dark cardinal bar in middle; suborbital region blue, overlaid with 
