FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
411 
first spine short, thick, blunt, and rugose; soft dorsal low, ends slightly rounded, rest of outline nearly 
straight; anal similar to dorsal; caudal subtruncate, slightly convex; ventral spine short, broad, 
movable; scales covering the entire body and head; a patch of osseous plates behind gill-opening; the 
median part of each scale on posterior part of body with spinous tubercles, these forming stout, short, 
sharp spines posteriorly, weakening anteriorly, the tubercles and spines forming elevated lines along 
each series of scales, extending anteriorly to pectoral region. 
Color in life, light drab, with darker cloudings; a narrow distinct white line from near angle of 
mouth to near origin of soft anal, which returns along base of ventral to base of ventral spine; an 
olivaceous dash extending in a curve from upper part of base of pectoral upward and backward 
toward middle of, but not quite reaching, the first dorsal fin; another from above and through the 
eye downward and backward to lower part of base of pectoral; throat and belly, below white line, 
light; first dorsal olivaceous with white; second dorsal and anal transparent; caudal dusky; inside of 
month black. (Jenkins.) 
A color note taken from No. 03503 when' alive, gives the general color light olive; the markings 
about eye dark olive; eye blue; line from mouth to anal bright white, area within this line white; 
membrane of anterior part of spinous dorsal dark olive, membrane and posterior part white; soft dor¬ 
sal and anal transparent, their bases with a dark olive line; caudal dusky. 
Another example, No. 03518, showed in life, in addition to the above markings, a bright yellow 
area along back in region under spine back as far as under posterior portion of soft dorsal. This color 
soon disappeared. 
A specimen from Hilo showed body blackish drab; a curved blackish bar below eye, and another 
meeting it at an acute angle from eye across gill-opening; a blackish bar across base of pectoral; a 
bluish white line across mouth; a curved line from mouth to above vent then turned forward across 
pelvic flap, bounding the pale drab color of belly; first dorsal blackish, edge of pelvic flap black; dorsal 
and anal grayish white with a blackish line at base; pectoral and caudal drab, blackish at base. 
Color in alcohol, brownish olivaceous, lighter below; a fine grayish white line from angle of 
mouth to vent, where it forms an edge to a black spot covering the vent and anal region to base of 
anal spine; rest of region within this line grayish white; a vertical crescent-shaped black band across 
posterior portion of eye, backward to below base of first dorsal and downward to lower base of pec¬ 
toral; another similar band through upper base of pectoral, behind gill-opening and upward toward 
second dorsal spine, reaching a line on upper edge of orbit; first and second dorsal spines and mem¬ 
brane brown, upper part of rest of fin and edge of membrane between first and second spines white; 
soft dorsal and anal pale; caudal dusky. Description based chiefly upon No. 03518, a specimen 7.75 
inches long, from Honolulu. 
We have 16 specimens 4.75 to 8 inches long, all from Honolulu, where the species is common 
about the reefs. 
Bjnliste bourse Lac6pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., I, 335, 375, 1798, Indies. 
Batiste* bursa, Bloch it Schneider, Syst. Ichthy., 476, 1801 (Indian Ocean); Bleeker, Allas. V, 116, pi. 223, fig. 3. 1865; (inn 
ther, Cat. Fishes, VIII, 219, 1870 (Indian and Pacific oceans). 
Batistapus bursa, Fowler, Proe. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1900, 514 (Hawaiian Islands i. 
Paclij/nathus bursa, Jenkins, Bull. l T . S. Fish Comm., XXII, 1902 (Sept. 23, 1903), 4S3 (Honolulu); Snyder, op. cit. (Jan. 19 
1904), 534 (Albatross Station 4032, off Diamond Head, Oahu Island). 
335. Balistes capistratus Shaw. “Humuhumu rniini Fi.tr. 181. 
Head 3 in length; depth 2.1; eye 7 in head, -5.5 in smaller examples; snout 1.4; interorbital 3.4; 
D. in, 30; A. 27; scales 56, 33 from vent to first dorsal spine; longest dorsal spine 2 in head, equal to 
depth of caudal at root of rays; longest dorsal ray equal to longest anal ray, 3 in head; pectoral 3 in head. 
Body oblong, compressed; head blunt, compressed; eye small, high, posterior; snout blunt, thick; 
mouth small; lips thick; jaws equal; teeth incisor-like, with a sharp projection on the anterior side; 
this more marked in upper jaw, giving the teeth a somewhat hooked canine appearance. Origin of 
first dorsal slightly posterior to upper base of pectoral (this base being midway between eye and 
dorsal); first spine strong, blunt, and rugose; dorsal and anal low, outline slightly rounded; caudal 
truncate, subtruncate, or slightly doubly convex in smaller examples; ventral spine short, broad, and 
blunt. 
