Pareioplitae, or Mailed-cheek Fishes 449 



tinct family. But the dorsal spines are equally numerous in 

 Jordania, which stands at the opposite extreme of the cottoid 

 seires. 



In Ascelichthys (rhodorus), a pretty sculpin of the rock-pools 

 of the Oregon region, the ventral fins are wholly lost. Ereunias 

 grallator, a deep-water sculpin from Japan, without ventrals and 



FIG. 397.Oligocottus maculosus Girard. Sitka. 



with free rays below its pectorals, should perhaps represent a 

 distinct family, Ereuniidcs. 



The degeneration of the spinous dorsal in Psychrolutes and Gil- 

 bertidia of the North Pacific has been already noticed. These 

 genera seem to lead directly from Cottunculus to Liparis. 



Fossil Cottida are few. Eocottus veronensis, from the Eocene 

 of Monte Bolca, is completely scaled, with the ventral rays 1,5. 

 It is apparently related to Jordania, but is still more primitive. 

 Lepidocottus (aries and numerous other species, mostly from the 

 Miocene) is covered with scales, but apparently has less than 

 five soft rays in the ventrals. Remains of Oncocottus, Icelus, 

 and Coitus are found in Arctic Pleistocene rocks. The family 

 as a whole is evidently of recent date. 



The RhamphocottidcB consist of a single little sculpin with a 

 large bony and singularly formed head, found on the Pacific 

 Coast from Sitka to Monterey. The species is called Rhampho- 

 cottus richardsoni. 



The Sea-poachers: Agonidae. The sea-poachers or alligator- 

 fishes, Agonida, are sculpins inclosed in a coat of mail made by 

 a series of overlying plates, much like those of the sea-horses or 

 the catfishes of the family Loricariidce. So far as structure 

 goes, these singular fishes are essentially like the Cottidce, but 



ii 29 



