THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
243 
/. Caudal truncate; 2 series of scales on cheek, and 2 scales on lower preopercular limb; canines 2 or 3 on each side. 
Color uniform violet-purple; vertical fins very dark aracanga 
jrJ. Caudal fin lunate, the outer rays more or less produced; cheek with 2.5 or 3 rows of scales; posterior canines 
3 or 4; color (dried skin) plain brownish, caudal in one specimen darker, or paler mesially, its border and angles 
dark Irispinosus 
bb. Cheek with 4 rows of scales; angles of caudal more or less salient. 
g. Color dusky-olivaceous, some scales with a rosy blotch at base; dorsal edged with dusky; caudal dark, pale at base, 
and with pale shades, its angles little produced; operele with blue blotches; canines 3; snout rather acute; 
7 scales before dorsal cuzamilx 
gg. Color, dark sky-blue; jaws with bright colors velula, 200 
ggg. Color brown, with 2 brown lateral bands gnathodus 
aa. Upper jaw without canines; 2.5 series of scales on cheek. 
h. Third (partial) row of scales of cheek of 3 or 4 scales, those of upper row little larger than those of second row. 
i. Caudal slightly rounded, its outer rays not produced. 
j. Side of body with 2 broad, dark longitudinal shades; sides of belly each with 3 sharply defined lines, each on a 
row of scales, these stripes running from breast to beyond front of ventrals and usually becoming faint or 
even obsolete in old individuals. 
k. Stripes on side of breast, if present, whitish. Color dark reddish-brown above, paler below; back dark; side with 
2 dark parallel stripes of color of back, separated by paler interspaces, upper one extending backward from 
eye; snout above bluish-brown; a narrow whitish streak running from head along middle line of belly; a faint 
dark spot on base of pectoral; caudal pale orange-red, outer rays somewhat barred with brown; dorsal orange, 
edged with bluish; other fins nearly plain croicensis, 201 
kk. Stripes on side of breast, if present, inky-blue. Color bright-green, olivaceous above, paler below, lower half of 
body becoming posteriorly more and more yellow, and on lower half of caudal peduncle bright light-yellow, 
this color being brightest above front of anal; longitudinal shades on side of body bright crimson, separated 
on head by a band of green; no spot on base of pectoral; caudal fin green, itsdower half yellow; dorsal, anal, 
and pectoral green, at least at base; ventrals yellow evcrmanni 
jj. Sides of body without distinct, broad, darker stripes. Color brown; no bands or lines upon body or head; dorsal 
spotted with violet and edged above and below with yellow, like caudal; caudal without spots; yellow line 
near edge and another along base of dorsal flavomarginatus 
ii. Caudal truncate, its points slightly salient; side with a broad whitish band acutus 
hh. Third (partial) row of scales on cheek of 1 or 2 scales only; scales of upper row much larger than those of second 
row; caudal subtruncate, its outer rays more or less produced, becoming much elongate with age; adult with 
a fleshy hump above snout. 
l. Color bright-blue, young more or less shaded with reddish-brown; fins mostly blue. Size large cseruleus, 202 
U. Color dusky-olive; a pale-yellowish streak from upper part of eye to upper base of caudal era blemalicus 
200. Scarus vetula Bloch & Schneider. Mud-fisli; Viejo,; Old ]Vife. 
(Plate 31.) 
Head 2.7; depth2.7; eye7; snout 2.3; interorbital 2.8; preorbital 4.2; D. ix, 10; A. ii, 9; pectoral 
1.5; ventral 2; caudal 1.3; scales 2-25-6. Dorsal and ventral outlines alike, head pointed; 2 posterior 
lateral canines in upper jaw; caudal margin slightly concave between outer produced rays. 
Color in life; Scales of trunk bluish-green, their edges pink; head variegated, the ground-color 
in shades of grayish, pink, and blue; a wavy green stripe from slightly below angle of mouth obliquely 
upward to below posterior margin of eye, bordered on both sides with yellow; a similar shorter stripe 
on snout, similarly bordered; a bent green bar before eye and a very short one behind; lower lip and 
chin blue; iris yellow; outer half of dorsal tin abruptly green, the line of demarcation curving obliquely 
upward from base of first spine, thence nearly straight to tip of ninth ray; yellow below the green, 
shading into rosy on base of fin, which has oblique pale-blue bars, one near base of each interradial 
membrane, below which is an oblong deep-blue blotch; anal colored exactly like dorsal, but without 
oblique pale-blue bars; pectoral with its upper edge blue, below which is a band of pink spreading out 
over the base, rest of fin light-green; ventral with spine and first ray blue, second yellow, the rest pale, 
with rosy membranes; caudal with upper and lower produced rays blue, the two inner of the produced 
rays rosy at base, yellowish at ends, rest of fin green; several scales at base of caudal rosy. 
This is one of the most gaudy of the parrot-fishes, the combination of colors being very extraor- 
dinary. It is thus far known only from Cuba and Porto Rico, where it is not uncommon. The 
specimen in our collection from which the colored drawing (plate 31) was made is 12.5 inches long and 
was obtained at Puerto Real. We have compared it with a specimen in the National Museum which 
has been identified with Poey’s S. superbus and find that they agree perfectly. The identity of S. 
superbus with S. velula seems certain, though there are some slight discrepancies in the descriptions. 
Vieja, Parra, Descr. Dif. Piezas, Hist. Nat., 58, pi. 28, fig. 1, 1787, Havana. 
Scarus vetula Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 289, 1801, Cuba; alter Parra; Jordan & Evermann, 1. e., 1649, 1898, 
Scarus superbus Poey, Memorias, II, 218, 1860, Cuba. 
