FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
417 
evenly and gradually from about the tenth; caudal lunate; pectoral short, broad, slightly falcate, 
almost rounded; ventral spine short, blunt, slightly movable. 
' Color in alcohol, grayish olivaceous, lighter below, head darker, the center of each scale darker, 
making weak brownish gray lines on sides; the edges of the scales are also brown, making narrow 
oblique lines, upward and forward and upward and backward over body; grooves on head brown; 
spinous dorsal brown, its membrane lighter; soft dorsal, anal, and pectoral pale; caudal dusky 
yellowish, its margin, for about width of pupil, white; scaly base of soft dorsal, anal, and belly to 
ventral spine, dark brown. 
The above description from No. 05411, a specimen 8.25 inches long. We have other examples, 
No. 05412, 5 inches long, No. 05413, 7.75 inches long, No. 03557, 7.5 inches long, from Honolulu, and 
No. 03723, 8 inches long, from Hilo. 
The species is rare. We can not distinguish our specimens from others taken off the coast of Mexico. 
Batistes lineo-punctatus Hollard, Ann. Sci.Nat. (4th ser.), I, 1854, 65, Reunion Island. 
Batistes mento Jordan & Gilbert, Proe. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 228, Clarion Island, Revillagigedo Group. (Type, No. 28387 
U. S. N. M., Coll. Lieut. H. E. Nichols.) 
Xanthiehtlvys mento, Jordan & Evertnann, Fishes North and Mid. Amer., IT, 1710, 1898. 
Genus 188. MELICHTHYS Swainson. 
This genus differs from Batistes chiefly in the presence of a series of even, white, incisor-like teeth, 
instead of the irregular incisors of Batistes. The tail is unarmed or the scales only slightly keeled; a 
groove is present before the eye below the nostrils, and the cheeks are wholly scaled. The vertical 
fins are angulated, but not produced in filaments; ventral flap small, immovable, and covered with 
rough scales. Tropical seas. 
Melichthys Swainson, Class. Anim., II, 325, 1839 (ringens, Bloch; not of Linnaeus). 
Melanichthys Gunther, Cat. , VIII, 227, 1870; corrected spelling. 
341. Melichthys radula (Solander). “Humuhumu eleele.” Plate LXIV. 
Head 3.75 in length; depth 2; eye 5.25 in head; snout 1.65; D. in, 33;, A. 29; interorbital 2.5; 
first dorsal spine 1.75; longest dorsal ray 1.3; longest anal ray 1.5; depth caudal peduncle 3; pectoral 
2; scales 53, 33 from vent to anterior base of spinous dorsal. 
Body oblong, more bluntly shaped anteriorly than posteriorly; head short, deep; eye small, 
posterior, high; snout blunt; mouth small; lower jaw slightly produced; 8 teeth in each jaw, the 2 
anterior ones of each jaw broad truncate, incisors without notch, the other teeth in lower jaw notched; 
posterior tooth of upper jaw truncate; other 2 lateral teeth but slightly notched; anterior teeth even, 
not notched; teeth of lower jaw with a strong horizontal backward process; origin of spinous dorsal 
over gill-opening; first dorsal spine strong, blunt, and, heavy, its front rugose; second spine* very 
slender, about two-thirds of first; last spine very short and blunt, its tip just even with edge of groove, 
easily overlooked; in the small examples it is quite evident, in large examples it is blunt and not so 
evident (Doctor Gilbert evidently had a large example and thought there were but 2 spines, hence 
called it bispinosus, a new species); the fourth dorsal and anal rays the longest, then uniformly short- 
ening posteriorly, the last one-third length of longest; caudal fin slightly convex, almost truncate, the 
tips produced for a distance equal to orbit; in the young the caudal is convex, no tips evident; ventral 
spine short, slightly movable; pectoral short, broad, and rounded; body nearly uniformly scaled, 
scales around mouth, eye, pectoral and ventral regions, and caudal peduncle smaller; osseous plates 
behind gill-opening; rough median spinous crests on 8 or 9 rows of scales on posterior portion of body. 
Color in life, uniformly black, with slight show of bluish ; a very distinct, conspicuous, narrow 
line of light blue running longitudinally on bases of dorsal and anal. Another specimen, when taken 
alive, was light green, with golden longitudinal narrow bands along spines of scales; stripe along base 
of dorsal and anal light blue; the whole fish turning black when dead. 
Color in alcohol, bluish black, the fins darker; a narrow white longitudinal stripe at base of dorsal 
and anal; a narrow white line within arch of caudal about half diameter of eye from its edge, this line 
not evident in the young. 
F. C. B. 1903—27 
