Dr. Ayres read letters from Mr. A. Garrett, and presented the following paper:
Descriptions of New Species of Fishes—No. II.
BY ANDREW GARRETT, OF HONOLULU, SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Cheilodactylus Lacep. 1803.
C. vittatus Garrett.
B. 6; D. 17-30; A. 3-8; V. 1-5; P. 8-6; C. 5, 1, 7, 6, 1, 4.
The height of the body is a trifle less than one-third of the total length. The upper profile rises in a convex line from the snout to the occipital region, whence it suddenly ascends in a nearly vertical curve, giving that portion of the fish a strongly gibbous appearance. The body rapidly tapers posteriorly, though preserving a slightly convex outline. The head enters nearly four and a half times in the entire length. The eyes are large, sub-circular in shape, even with the line of profile, and their greatest diameter is nearly one-third the length of the head. They are placed nearer the origin of the lateral line than the end of the snout. The small maxillary bone extends as far back as the anterior margin of the eye.
The dorsal fin takes its origin immediately above the posterior limb of the orbit and terminates within one diameter of the eye of the caudal fin. Its three anterior rays are very small, and the fourth, which is the tallest, is one-third as long as the base of the whole fin, or equal to two-thirds the height of the body. Posteriorly the spiny rays rapidly diminish in altitude so that the last one is shorter than the succeeding soft rays. The soft portion of the fin is comparatively low, gently convex along its upper edge, and is equally as long as the spiny part. The anal fin is small, being inserted just in advance of the middle of the soft portion of the dorsal. Its extreme margin is slightly concave and the rays rapidly diminish in length posteriorly. The ventrals when laid back reach as far as the anal fin. The second simple pectoral ray extends as far back as the vent. The caudal, which is deeply forked, has its lobes rounded off.
Color greyish-silvery, and ornamented with five oblique blackish-brown bands which are disposed as follows: one extends from the snout to the preopercular margin, the second starts from the eye and terminates on the pectoral base, the third, which passes over the occipital region, extends below the pectoral axilla; the fourth, which is much broader, starts from the origin of the dorsal fin, curves downward and backward, becoming wider in its descent, and passes beneath the abdomen; the fifth one commences on the upper anterior half of the spiny dorsal, extending along the back to near the termination of that fin. Three irregular, pale spots may be observed in the dorsal band, and three large blackish-brown spots on the caudal trunk. The opercular flap and snout tinged with orange-red. The interorbital space is marked with two transverse brownish-red bands. Irides yellowish-silvery. That portion of the dorsal fin anterior to the fifth band is white, the remainder, together with the anal and caudal, light-yellowish, the latter tipped with blackish-brown. The pectorals are orange-red, and the ventrals are deep blackish-brown.
Length, 7 inches.