EDWIN CHAPIN STARKS Bid) streak running through the black. The black and white streak is continued along the upper border of the caudal fin. A blended yellowish streak runs along the middle of the dorsal and the base of the fin is bluish. The pectoral is straw-color and the ventral is tinged with red, which grows to a dark red on the first ray and spine. The anal is bluish, with a black border continued along the lower edge of the caudal.
182. Crenicichla cincta Regan.
A specimen a foot in entire length was taken in the market at Para. It is much larger than the type, which was 172 mm. in length, and consequently differs considerably from the original description. The head without the projecting jaw is contained 314 times in the body length; the diameter of the eye 6 times in the head; the snout equals the interorbital width, and is contained 31% times in the head. The maxillary extends to under the pupil, and the depth of the preorbital is equal to threefifths of the diameter of the eye. The teeth of the front of the mandible are in five series, and the gill-rakers are represented by 8 or 9 low bony tubercles. There are 147 longitudinal series of scales above the lateral line, 18 cross series between the front of the spinous dorsal and the lateral line, and 45 between the lateral line and the median line of the belly. The pores of the lateral line number 29+ 15. The length of the last dorsal spine is contained 3% times in the head; the pectoral 2 times; and the ventral 2% times. The depth of the caudal peduncle is contained 174 times in its length from the base of the anal.
There are 12 well-marked cross bars, counting a short one at the nape and a faint one on the base of the caudal rays. No spots are evident on the soft dorsal; the caudal shows about five light, broken cross bands, and the basal caudal spot is ringed with light body color. The dark band from the eye to above the pectoral base is faintly indicated along the entire length to the caudal spot. The spine and outer ray of the ventral are dusky. 183. Crenicichla johanna Heckel.
Half a dozen of this well-marked species were collected in the market at Para. The following color description was made from one of them before it was preserved.
Light metallic green above, shading to darker slaty-blue on side. The back has 11 or 12 dark green cross bars not extending down to middle of side. Shades of light metallic green, similar to that on side, are on opercle and base of pectoral. The dorsal is bluish, with a narrow black border and
58 FISHES FROM BRAZIL a very narrow marginal line of dark red; this is continued along upper part of caudal. Anal bluish with dusky border, and a dusky band following contour of fin a short distance above margin (the last entirely disappearing in alcohol). Pectoral tinged with straw color; ventrals with orange, and with a dusky outer margin. Some of the preserved specimens show a pair of light bars on caudal a short distance from the tips of the rays and converging to a point behind. The largest specimen (32 cm. in length) shows no trace of cross bars.
184. Geophagus surinamensis (Bloch).
Several specimens were collected at Para, from 5 to 6 inches in length. The color in life is as follows: Dusky silvery blue on head and body, with about 4 golden longitudinal lines on side above the level of the pectoral. Indefinite dusky cross bars are often present, especially in the smaller specimens. Soft dorsal and caudal dusky bluish with large pale spots so close as to leave little more than a net-work of the ground color. A small dark spot is usually present on the side just below the middle of the upper lateral line. ‘The pectoral is straw color, the anal light dusky brown, and the ventral orange brown.
Famity POMACENTRID-.
185. Pomacentrus fuscus (Cuvier and Valenciennes).
Pomacentrus leucostictus (Miller and Troschel).
This is one of the most abundant tide-pool fishes about Natal. Its variation in intensity of color is remarkable, and all of the phases between the typical Pomacentrus leucostictus and P. fuscus are represented. The following are the life colors of a young individual. Below a line from the tip of the snout to the end of the soft dorsal the body is bright canary-yellow. Above it is dark blue with vivid electric-blue spots. An irregular stripe of similar electric blue runs from the tip of the snout, across the nape, to the spinous dorsal. Another runs from the eye backward along each side of the back. The dorsals are bright blue, with the tip of the soft dorsal yellow and all of the other fins are bright canary-yellow. A large dark spot, ocellated with bright blue, is on the base of the spinous dorsal posteriorly. A small dark spot is on the base of the caudal peduncle.
186. Abudufduf marginatus (Bloch).
Many specimens of this common species were taken in the tide pools at Natal.
EDWIN CHAPIN STARKS 59 Famity LABRIDA.
187. Halichceres penrosei Starks, new species.
Plate 7.
The form of the head and the body is about as in Halicheres bivittatus. The head is contained 314 times in the length to the caudal base, and depth 4 times. The posterior canine is well developed and sharp. The eye is contained 41% times in the head, and the snout 3% times.
The fin formula is, dorsal X, 10; anal III, 11. The pectoral reaches past the tip of the ventral, but not to the vent. The ventrals are not filamentous and their length is equal to the combined length of the snout and eye. The caudal is double truncate behind. ‘The scales are reduced in size in front of the dorsal and are continuous over the median line. About 12 series are present in front of the dorsal. The lateral line crosses 26 scales. It is continuous and drops to a lower level on the seventh and eighth scales from the posterior end. ‘The pores are simple.
A broad, solid black band, much wider than the eye medially, runs from the tip of the snout to the base of the caudal. Behind the opercle its lower edge is on a level with the middle of the eye. It is separated above from the color of the back by a narrow light band, which meets its fellow of the opposite side on the top of the snout, where they form a V-shaped mark, as viewed from above. The dark color of the back is well-defined above the light streak, but it is very much lighter than the lateral band. Below the lateral band are faint dusky traces of a second band. With this exception there is no color below the lateral band except on the pectoral, which is slightly dusky and has a black dot on its base above. From the sixth to the seventh dorsal spines is a black spot; otherwise the fins are entirely without color.
This species differs from most of the species of its genus in having the scales in front of the dorsal reduced in size and crossing the median line of the back as in Halicheres semicinctus, and in having 10 dorsal spines. These characters will separate it at once from HY. maculipfinna and HA. bivittatus, which it somewhat resembles in color.
The type and only specimen is 234 inches long, and was taken in a tide pool at Natal.
I take pleasure in naming this species for Dr. R. A. F. Penrose Jr., sometime lecturer on geology in Stanford University, in recognition of his interest in the Stanford Expedition to Brazil.
60 . FISHES FROM BRAZIL 188. Halichcres irideus Starks, new species.
Plate 8.
The head is contained from 3% to 3% times in the length to the base of the caudal, and the depth from 334 to 4 times. The eye is equal in diameter to the interorbital bone (though the interorbital space is somewhat wider) and is contained 5 times in the head. The snout is contained from 234 to 3 times.
The fin formula is, dorsal IX, 11; anal III, 12. The pectoral usually reaches well past the ventral to opposite the vent. Its length is contained 1% times in the head. The ventrals are sharp-pointed but not filamentous. The caudal is slightly rounded, but conspicuously angulated at the tips of the outer rays. The front of the anal is midway between the middle of the eye and the base of the caudal, or varying from the former point to the front of the eye. The lateral line is on 28 scales, and the pores are trifurcate. The scales in front of the dorsal are not reduced in size, and do not cover the median line of the back.
In life the colors of this species are particularly brilliant. The ground color of the side of the head and anterior part of the body is clear yellow, which gradually changes to green posteriorly, then to electric blue, and to a brilliant darker blue on the caudal, while dorsally the color of the body shades into brownish orange, and ventrally into lavender. Two narrow, longitudinal, brilliant orange stripes cross the lower part of the side. A bright blue stripe runs from the snout to the eye, and two run from the eye to the nape. The lower jaw is lavender. A large coal-black spot almost as wide as the eye and twice as long is about equally on the base of the first dorsal rays and the back. A smaller one is on the base of the last two rays and the back. This is much more conspicuous than in other species that have a spot under the last ray. A third one is on the last scales at the base of the caudal just above the middle caudal rays. All of these spots are conspicuously ocellated with blue. The dorsal is marked with longitudinal stripes of blue and orange, and the anal with blue and pinkish color. In alcohol the ocellated spots are very clear black and plain. A black dot is on the upper part of the pectoral base, and two dark brown stripes run irregularly from the eye to the nape. The two stripes on the lower part of the side are scarcely, or but slightly, evident. The median caudal rays are dusky, and the other fins are almost colorless.
The species may be at once known from all other American species by the large, black, ocellated spots on the back.
EDWIN CHAPIN STARKS 61 Five specimens, ranging in size from 3 to 5 inches in length, were collected in the rock pools at Natal.
189. Halichceres poeyi (Steindachner).
One specimen, 4 inches in length, was taken in a tide pool at Natal. In alcohol it is marked as follows: The body is light and some of the scales above the middle of the side are dark brown at the base and are clustered into more or less definite blotches. One of these blotches is just behind the opercular flap, another is above the end of the pectoral, and posteriorly two or three of them are run together. A large dark spot is behind the eye, a small one is at the base of the last dorsal ray, and another is on the upper edge of the pectoral base. The fins are all abruptly colorless. FamILy SCARID/.
190. Sparisoma frondosum (Cuvier).
A rather common species in the tide pools about Natal. 191. Scarus croicensis (Bloch).
A single small specimen, slightly less than 2 inches in length, taken in-a tide pool at Natal, seems referable to this species, agreeing in all characters but the color of the teeth, which are green as in the sub-genus Pseudoscarus. FAMILY EPHIPPID.
192. Cheztodipterus faber (Broussonet).
Three specimens were taken in the market at Para, one of them very large, with a gibbous forehead caused by hyperostosis. In one only 10 inches in length the bones of the frontal and occipital region have become greatly thickened. These specimens scarcely show any cross bars. Comparing them with some of similar size from Jamaica they are much lighter in color, and the dorsal and anal rays are not so much produced.
Famity CHAATODONTID~.
193. Holocanthus tricolor (Bloch).
A small specimen was collected at Natal.
194. Pomacanthus paru (Bloch).
A specimen 8 inches long was taken in deep water by the trawl off Natal. The discrepancies in the description published by Jordan and Evermann (Fish. N. and Mid. Am., pp. 1679-1680) have led me to make an ex-
62 FISHES FROM BRAZIL amination of our available material of Pomacanthus from the Atlantic. These separate easily into two species as in the following key. (a) Caudal truncate, or lunate in large specimens, with outer angles sharp and a broad white border behind; dorsal spines 8 or 9; small scales crowded in about larger ones, all of them with a light posterior border, but the larger ones most conspicuous; no white lines from eye to nostril; no large light spot on pectoral base. P. arcuatus (Linnzus).* (aa) Caudal broadly rounded and scarcely or bluntly angulated at the outer rays, and with a very narrow or no white margin; dorsal spines 10; scales more nearly uniform in size and only part of them with a light border (those corresponding with the large scales of the other species) ; a light bar from eye to nostril; and a light spot on base of pectoral. P. paru (Bloch).
Of P. arcuatus we have 7 specimens, from 5 to 12 inches long, from Brazil and the West Indies. Of P. paru we have 5 specimens, from 5 to 7 inches long, from the same localities.
In Jordan and Evermann’s description of the first species the dorsal spines and the color are correctly described, but the caudal is incorrectly said to be rounded. There is said (correctly) to be no pale stripe before the eye, but in the description of P. paru, P. arcuatus is said to have a “white stripe from the eye to nostril,” and the caudal is said to have no pale edge. In the last description P. faru is first said to have the caudal truncate and farther on in the same description it is correctly said to be rounded. The following is the color in life of the specimen of P. faru from Natal. The ground color is dark lead-color, nearly black, with scales at regular intervals edged with canary-yellow, making the flesh appear as if it had much larger scales than it has. The iris, preopercular spine, and a large blotch at the caudal base are bright yellow. ‘The upper jaw is dusky yellow, and the lower jaw light. The cross bars on the body and fins are bright yellow. Famity ACANTHURID.
195. Hepatus hepatus (Linnzus).
Several specimens were taken by the trawl boat from deep water, and the young were abundant in the rock pools about Natal. The following is the color in life. The body is dusky yellowish above and slaty brown below. Narrow vertical dark bars cross the side, and narrow yellow and blue streaks run forward and backward from the eye and merge into the ground color of * If either of the species here considered is to be identified with P. arcuatus it must be this one, for the only differential character Linnzus gives is the number of dorsal spines, though the other species has been in the past so identified.
EDWIN CHAPIN STARKS 63 the body. <A bright blue spot surrounds the caudal spine. The dorsal has wavy longitudinal streaks of light blue, or lavender, and light yellow. The anal is dark blue edged with light blue, and the caudal is tinged with blue. The ventrals are dark brown, nearly black. The young has all of the vertical fins edged with bright blue, and a broad, light diffused stripe crosses the caudal peduncle.
Famity BALISTIDA.
196. Balistes vetula Linnzus.
Specimens were taken at Natal.
Famity MONACANTHID.
197. Monacanthus hispidus (Linnezus).
One specimen was procured at Natal.
198. Monacanthus ciliatus (Mitchill).
A single specimen taken at Natal.
199. Alutera punctata Agassiz.
Three specimens, from 15 to 17 inches in length, were caught in a trawl in deep water. The head, from the upper end of the gill opening, is contained from 3% to 33% times in the entire length to the caudal; the depth is from 2% to 2% times. The dorsal numbers 36 or 37, and the anal 38 or 39. In life they were dark slate-color, with small yellow spots scattered over the side.
Comparing these with a specimen of similar size of Alutera schapfu from Florida, the latter is found to be rougher, with enlarged sharp spinules scattered among the finer ones; the double curve from the tip of the snout to the dorsal spine is much more pronounced, and the color is very much lighter, or almost white, with considerable silvery pigment and no spots. Famity OSTRACIID.
200. Lactophrys tricornis (Linnezus).
A couple of specimens from Natal.
Famity TETRAODONTID#.
201. Spheroides testudineus (Linnzus).
This fish is as common at Natal as it is reported to be throughout its range. There is an astonishing variation in the size of the eye.
64 FISHES FROM BRAZIL Famity DIODONTIDA.
202. Chilomycterus antillarum Jordan and Rutter.
The dried skin of what appears to be this species was picked up on the beach at Natal.
FAMILY-SCORPAENIDA.
203. Scorpzena plumieri Bloch.
A few large specimens were taken in the tide pools at Natal. In life this species is elaborately mottled with purplish wine-color, reddish brown, and sienna, on a light drab and slightly greenish ground color. The breast and belly are cherry-red, with many small white points. ‘The caudal fin is crossed by three dark brown blotches. A red blotch is at the base of the pectoral, and the pectoral is hght red with cross bars of reddish brown. The inner surface of the pectoral is jet black at the base, with several sharp-cut, very conspicuous, milk-white spots, a yellow area across the middle of the rays, and wine-color distally.
FamMiILy GOBIIDZ.
204. Dormitator maculatus (Bloch).
A number of specimens up to five inches in length were collected at Lake Papary, and a couple from a pond in a deserted part of the park at Ceara. The males have the dorsal and anal higher than the females, but in none of the Papary specimens are the longest dorsal rays nearly as long as the head, while in one of the Ceara specimens (5 inches in length) the last dorsal and anal rays broadly overlap the caudal, and the longest dorsal ray is considerably longer than the head. It differs further in having a more definite white border to the dorsal and anal.
The following color note was taken from a fresh Papary specimen. ‘The body and head are dark brown, shading to green above and with the sides washed with blood-red. The side of the head has a green tinge, and light brown bars radiate from the eye. Bright green shades are in front of the pectoral, and a blackish blotch is at the caudal base. The dorsals have oblique brown bars on the mebrane, but these do not involve the rays. The anal is dark brown spotted with white and narrowly margined with white. The ventrals and pectorals are dusky.