388 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY - IV 



hranchia- present. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. !N"o pyloric e(vca; 

 intestinal canal short. A single genus of three or more species, chiefly 

 of the < 'Id \Yorld, one of them straying to America. 

 (Ct-ntrisi-'uhi nan, ^cims L'cntrtscns Giinthcr, iii, 51f<-5'J4.) 



189.-CENTRHSCUS Liuna-u>. 



Snipe-fishes. 



(Linna-us Syst. Nat. 1753 : type Centriscus acolopax L.) 

 The characters of the genus are included above. (x^r^Vxo-, an 



ancient name of some spinous fish; from X^J/T/^, a spine.) 



6*21. C. scoloj>;ix Linn. Snipe-fish, ;. Trumpet-fish ; Bijlows-fwh. 



Kose red or reddish olive above, silvery on the sides and belly. Body 

 strongly compressed and somewhat elevated, covered with small striated 

 scales, each stria terminating in a rather strong spine; second dorsal 

 spine very strong, serrated posteriorly, its length about i total length 

 of fish; snout several times longer than the rest of the head. Head L'-l 

 in length ; depth .'.} to 4. J). V-12 ; A. 20. Mediterranean Sea; occa- 

 sional northward ; accidental on our coast. 



i l.inn. Syst. Nat.; Giinther, iii, 518.) 



FAMILY LXL FISTULARIID^. 



(The Trumpct-Jisltcs.) 



Body extremely elongate, much depressed, broader than deep. Xo 

 scales. Bony plates present on various parts of the body. Jlead 

 very long, the anterior bones of the skull much produced, forming a 

 long tube, which terminates in the narrow month; both jaws, and 

 usually the vomer and palatines also, with minute teeth ; membrane 

 uniting the bones of the tube below, very lax, so that the tube is eapa 

 ble of much dilation. Branchiostegals 5-7; gills 4, a slit behind the 

 fourth, dill-membranes separate, free from the isthmus; gill-rakers rb- 

 solete. I'seiidobranchia 1 present. Air-bladder large. Spinons dorsal tin 

 ent ireh ab.M-nt : soft dorsal short, posterior, somewhat elevated; anal tin 

 opposite it and similar; caudal tin forked, the middle rays produced 

 into a long lilament : pectorals small, \\ilh a broad base, preceded by a 

 smooth area as in (innti -mull i<l- ; ventral tins very small, wide apart, 

 abdominal, far in advance of the dorsal, composed of G soft rays. Py- 

 loric cii-ca few; intestines short. Vertebra- very numerous (4 + 4!> + 33). 

 Fishes of the tropical seas, related to the Sticklebacks in structure, but 



