56 (&). MASTACEMBELID^E PTILICHTHYS. 369 



the North Pacific, the osteology of which is unknown, and which may 

 really belong to the AcanthopterL 



(Mastacembelidce Giintln-r, iii, 539-543.) 



a. Scales none or rudimentary; body very elongate, tapering backward to a point. 



(Ptiliohthyince.) 



J. Lower jaw with a projecting fleshy appendage at tip; gill-membranes broadly 

 united PTILICHTHYS, 179. 



179. PTILICHTHYS Bean. 

 (Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. iv, 1881: type Ptllichthys goodei Beau.) 



Body extremely elongate, serpentiform, little compressed, the tail 

 tapering to a point. Skin naked, or with a few thin, loose, scattered 

 scales; no lateral line. Head unarmed, rather small; upper jaw not 

 protractile; snout short ; mouth oblique; lower jaw projecting consid- 

 erably beyond the upper, with a protruding fleshy appendage at tip. 

 Maxillary reaching the front of eye. Mandible little movable. Both 

 jaws with fine, close-set, sharp teeth, in one row, the posterior teeth a 

 little the largest ; no evident teeth on vomer or palatines. Gill-open- 

 ings restricted to below the most convex part of the opercle ; the mem- 

 branes broadly united below, free from the isthmus. Gills 4, a slit 

 behind the fourth. Pseudobranchia3 very small, almost obsolete. Gill- 

 rakers short and stout. Pectorals short; ventrals wanting; dorsal 

 beginning close behind the nape; the anterior portion for about half 

 the length of the body composed of very low, stiff, free spines, hooked 

 backwards, the posterior portion higher, of slender soft rays connected, 

 by thin membrane. No caudal fin, the tip of the tail free. Anal sim- 

 ilar to the soft dorsal, without spines. Veut at considerable distance 

 from the head. North Pacific. (TTT^V, quill ; l^Ouq fish.) 



594. P. goodei Bean. 



Orange or yellowish, the body with a blackish longitudinal stripe, the 

 anal darker in color than the dorsal. Eye rather large, as long as snout, 

 5 in head ; cheeks and opercles long ; pectoral fin half as long as the 

 head; soft dorsal and anal deeper than the body posteriorly, the anal 

 a little lower than the dorsal. Vent near the end of the anterior third 

 of the body ; distance from the vent to the beginning of the soft dorsal 

 3| times the length of the head ; length of head twice its greatest depth, 

 5J in the distance to the vent; appendage of mandible half as long 

 as eye ; free tip of caudal two-thirds eye. Dorsal spines 90 ; soft rays 

 of dorsal 145 ; of anal about 185 ; P. 12. L, about 12 inches. Aleutian. 

 Islands. 



(Bean, Proc.U. S. Nat. Mus. iv, 1881.) 

 Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 1C 24 



