FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
55 
present; belly not carinate, flattish, covered with ordinary scales; dorsal fin moderate, in front of 
ventrals, its membranes scaly; no adipose tin; anal very small; caudal widely forked; pyloric coeca 
numerous; parietal bones meeting along top of head; vertebrae numerous, 42 -(-28=70. A single 
species known, found in all warm seas. 
In this, and probably in related families, the young pass through a metamorphosis analogous to 
that seen in the Conger Eels; they are for a time elongate, band-shaped, with very small head and 
loose, transparent tissues; from this condition they become gradually shorter and more compact, 
shrinking from 3 or 3.5 inches in length to 2 inches. According to Dr. Gilbert, this process, like 
that seen in various eels, is a normal one, through which all individuals pass. In the Gulf of Cali- 
fornia, where these fishes abound, these band-shaped young are often thrown by the waves on the 
beach in great masses. 
Genus 19. ALBULA (Gronow) Bloch & Schneider. The Bonefishes. 
The characters of this genus are included above. Only one species known. 
Conorhyncus Nozeman, Act. Select., Ill, 382, 1757 (nonbinomial). 
Albula Gronow, Zoophyl., 102, 1763 (nonbinomial). 
Alb ala Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 432, 1801 ( conorhyncus =vulpes ). 
Butyrinus LaeOp&de, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 45, 1803 {banana— vulpes). 
Glossodus Cuvier in Agassiz, Splx Pise. Brasil., 48, 1829 (furskali=v ulpcs) . 
20. Albula vulpes (Linnteus). Bonefish; “ Oi.o .” Fig. 9. 
Head 3.75 in length; depth 5; D. 15; A. 8; scales 9-71-7; upper lobe of caudal the longer; a 
broad band of peculiar, elongate, membranaceous scales along middle line of back; accessory ventral 
scale large. 
Brilliantly silvery; olivaceous above; back and sides with faint streaks along the rows of scales; 
fins plain; axils dusky. Length 18 inches to 3 feet. Tropical seas, on sandy coasts, almost universally 
distributed and generally abundant. A beautiful and active fish, in most places little valued as food, 
but in some regions, as Key West, highly appreciated. Highly esteemed as a game fish. 
Fig. 9. — Albula vulpes (Linnaeus); after Jordan and Evermann. 
We have a number of specimens from Honolulu and Hilo, all of which have the streaks on the 
back and upper surface dark and well defined. We have also examined specimens taken at Honolulu 
by Dr. Wood, and others from the same locality by Jordan and Snyder. 
Esox vulpes Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Ed. X, 313, 1758, Bahamas (based on the bonefish, Vulpes bahamensis of Catesby). 
Argentina glossodonta Forskal, Descript. Animal., 68, 1775, Djidda, Arabia. 
Synodus argenteus Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 398, 1801, Asia. 
Clupea brasiliensis Bloch & Schneider, op. cit., 427, Brazil. 
Albula conorhynchus Bloch & Schneider, op. cit., 432, Antilles (after Gronow); Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 7, 76, 1877 
(Honolulu); Gunther, Rep. Shore Fish., Challenger, Zool., I, part VI, 61, 1880 (Hilo). 
Albula plumieri Bloch & Schneider, op. cit., pi. 86, Antilles. 
Amia immaculata Bloch & Schneider, op. cit., 451. South America; after Macabfi of Parra. 
Butyrinus banana Lac6pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 46, 1803, lie de France. 
Argentina sphyrxna LacOpede, op. cit., V, 366, 1803, Mediterranean. 
Clupea microcephala Lac6p6de, op. cit., 426, Martinique; on a drawing by Plumier. 
