THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
259 
Color varying very much with the surroundings of the fish, from dull olive-gray to the most 
vivid grass-green; markings, not well defined and not very constant; green, with white cirri on sides; 
a whitish longitudinal cloud behind pectoral; a pale band downward and forward from eye; lower 
side-of head with darker crossbands; dorsal and anal pinkish, with (usually 3) darker spots at base; 
ventral flap edged with scarlet; caudal greenish, mottled with darker and pale; some specimens show 
neither red nor green shades, and have vague, dusky, longitudinal stripes. A specimen 3 inches long, 
from Isabel Segunda, Vieques Island, in alcohol, is brownish-gray, dusky, with a large black clouded 
blotch from front of soft dorsal downward and forward to middle of side; body irregularly clouded 
with dusky elsewhere; toj:> of head brownish -gray; below very dusky, becoming black on flap, which 
has a light submarginal stripe followed by a narrow white border; dorsal and anal translucent; a faint 
dark blotch below middle of soft dorsal, and one at front of anal; caudal barred with white and dark. 
This species is known from the West Indies and southern Florida, and is very abundant about 
the Florida Keys, along with M. hispidus. It has been recorded also from Bahamas, Puerto Cabello 
(Cuba), Jamaica, and Porto Rico, where it is not uncommon. Our collection contains specimens from 
San Geronimo, Boqueron, Guanica, and Isabel Segunda, off Vieques Island, where a specimen was 
dredged in 16 fathoms at station 6092, and off St. Thomas, at station 6079, in 20 to 23 fathoms. Length 
3 to 8 inches. The young of this species and of M. ldspidus are much alike, but M. (Hiatus is always 
more elongate, and as it grow's older the pelvic flap grows much larger and the armature of the tail 
more distinct. 
Batistes ciliatus Mitchill, Amer. Monthly Mag. and Crit. Rev., March, 1818, 326, Bahama Straits. 
Monacanthus ocddentalis Gunther, Cat., VIII, 237, 1870, Puerto Cabello, Cuba. 
Monacanthus davidsoni Cope, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. Phila., XIV, 1870, 476, Florida Reef. 
Monacanthus ciliatus, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 1714, 1898. 
217. Monacanthus hispidus (Linnaeus) . Fool-fish; File-fish; Leather-fish; Horny Cony; Lija. 
Head 3.4; depth 1.75; D. i, 32; A. 32. Young slightly deeper (1.5) proportionally than adult. 
Body rather deep. Jaws subequal; eye large, about 3 in snout. Gill-opening about as long as eye, 
separated from eye by an interspace nearly equal to its length. Anterior profile slightly concave. 
Dorsal spine somewhat shorter than snout, more than half head, inserted above posterior part of eye, 
stout, rough, armed behind with 2 rows of retrorse barbs; first ray of soft dorsal often filamentous in 
adult (male?), its length varying from that of snout to that of depth of body (longest among specimens 
seen by us is one from Canary Islands) ; pectoral small. Pelvic bone long, ending in a short, blunt, 
movable spine, beyond which the abdominal flap does not extend. Scales minute, each with a crest of 
about 3 prickles, those on caudal peduncle villous, those on ventral flap larger, elongate; no naked 
areas; no recurved spines on tail. Length 10 inches. 
