LOPHOBRANCHII. 381 



length, not very short nor very blunt. D. 13; A. 9. Atlantic Ocean; 

 not very common on our coasts. 



(Exoccctus fitrcatus Mitch. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. i, 449, 1815 ; Exoccelus furcatus 

 Gliuther, vi, 286: Exoccctus nuttalli Le Suenr, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1821, 10: Ex- 

 occeiusnuttaUiiGmithei', vi, 286: Exoccetus furcatus Liitken, Vidensk. Moddel. Naturh. 

 Foren. 1876, 106; Weinl. 1. c.) 



613. C. COBBiafMS (Mitch.) Weiularid. 



Greenish above, paler below ; ventrals somewhat dusky ; lower edge 

 of pectorals pale. Body moderately elongate ; head medium ; eye very 

 large, longer than snout, about 3 in head. Barbel very long, ribbon- 

 like, reaching in the adult as far as the base of the ventrals ; a small 

 similar barbel, shorter than the eye, on each side of it at base. Pectoral 

 fins reaching to last ray of dorsal, the third ray longest, the second split. 

 Insertion of dorsal nearly midway between ventrals and anal ; veutrals 

 slightly nearer gill-openings than base of caudal, their tips nearly reach- 

 ing end of anal, which is smaller than dorsal ; caudal well forked, the 

 lower lobe longest. Head 4; depth 5. D. 12; A. 9; Lat. 1.47. L. 8 

 inches. (Liitken.) Atlantic Ocean; occasional on our coast. 



(Exoccctus comatus Mitch. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. i, 448: Exoccettis comatus 

 Giiuther, vi, 286: Exoccctus comatus DeKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 231 : Exoccctus ap' 

 pendicuJatus Wood, Jouru. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1824,283: Exoccetus comatus Liitken, 

 Vidensk. Meddel. Natur. Foren. 1876, 106, tig. 1. 



OEDEB R. LOPHOBRANCHII. 



(The Lopliobranclis.) 



Gills tufted, not laminated, composed of small rounded lobes attached 

 to the gill-arches. Scapula suspended to the cranium by a post- tem- 

 poral. Superior branchihyals and pharyngeals, and basal brauchi- 

 hyals wanting or not ossified. Mouth very small, bounded above by 

 the premaxillaries. Post- temporal simple, co -ossified with the cranium ; 

 basis of the cranium simple. Pectoral fins with elevated bases. Inter- 

 clavicles well developed. Anterior vertebrae modified, the diapophyses 

 much expanded. Air-bladder simple, without air-duct. Snout pro- 

 duced, bearing the small toothless mouth at the end. Gill-covers re- 

 duced to a large simple plate. Skin with bony plates. Muscular 

 system little developed. The families mentioned below have neither spi- 

 nous dorsal, ,nor ventral fins; the Solenostomatidce of the Indian Ocean 

 have all the fins well developed. (/W</'<r, crest; /fya^ca, gills.) 



(Loplwbranchii Giinther, viii, 150-203.) 



