268 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH' COMMISSION. 
orbital and lower jaw scaly; dorsal fin with 12 to 14 spines and 9 to 14 soft rays; caudal more or less 
forked, the lobes rounded or acute; branchiostegals normally 5; pyloric coeca 2; gillrakers long and 
slender. Tropical seas; species numerous, varying considerably in form, perhaps divisible into smaller 
genera. 
Chromis Cuvier, Memories du Mus. d’Hist. Nat., Paris, I, 1815, 353 ( chromis ). 
Helioses Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 1830, 495 ( insolatus ). 
Furcaria Poey, Memorias Cuba, II, 194, 1860 ( puncta ). 
Hdiastcs Gunther, Cat., IV, 60, 1862 (chromis)-, corrected spelling. 
Ayresia Cooper, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1863, 73 ( punctipinnis ), 
a. Opercle ending in 2 small flat spines, the upper obscure;. body short obvate; dorsal spines XII elaphrus , p. 268 
aa. Opercle without spine; body oblong ovate; dorsal spines xiv ovalis, p. 269 
209. Chromis elaphrus Jenkins. Fig. 113. ' 
Head 3.4 in length; depth 2.25; eye 3 in head; snout 3.75; maxillary 3.75; interorbital 2.5; D. 
xn, 15 or 16; A. ii, 12; P. IS; scales 4-27-9, 20 pores. 
Body short, deep, ovate and compressed, the dorsal outline of body more convex than ventral 
outline; snout short and bluntly conic; anterior outline a little more convex in interorbital region 
than on nape; caudal peduncle about 2 in head; snout shorter than eye; suborbital, preopercle, and 
opercle entire, the preopercle somewhat crenulate; opercle ending in 2 small flat spines, the upper 
Pig. 113. — Chromis elaphrus Jenkins; from the type. 
obscure; teeth conic, close-set in a single series in each jaw; third dorsal spine longest, 1.8 in head; 
soft dorsal somewhat higher than spinous portion, slightly rounded, longest rays about 1.7; anal 
rounded, similar to soft dorsal, 1.4; caudal deeply emarginate, the upper lobe slightly the longer, 
about equaling head; ventrals nearly reaching vent, 1.3; pectoral broad, rather truncate, 1.3; scales 
large, regular, slightly ctenoid, densely covering entire body and head except snout anterior to nostril 
and tip of lower jaw; lateral line well developed, beginning at upper edge of gill-opening, gently 
arched, following contour of back to within 3 scales of base of last dorsal ray, where it ceases; bases 
of all the fins scaled, those on spinous dorsal largest. 
Color in alcohol, brown above and on top of head, paler below; opercle dusky; fins all plain or 
dusky, without markings; no black spot or blotch upon anterior portion of spinous dorsal, and none 
at base of pectoral. 
