582 CONTRIBUTIONS TO N<KTII AMKKH'AN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 







305.-SERIPHUS Ayres. 



Queen-fishes. 



(Ayivs. I 'roc. Cul. Acad. Nat. Sci. pt. ii, 80, 1801: type Seriphus politus Ayres.) 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with rather large, deciduous, ctenoid 

 scaJes. Head deep, compressed, earinated behind, depressed above the 

 eve. Snout bluntish, lower jaw projecting. Mouth large, oblique. Teeth 

 small, sharp, separated, in narrow bands. Gill-rakers long. Pseudo- 

 branchia.' present. Preopercle with its inembranaceous edge denticulated. 

 Fins fragile, the soft parts scaly; dorsal tins well apart, the second un- 

 usually small, scarcely larger than the anal, which ks unusually large; 

 a nal spines 2, feeble ; caudal fin lunate. Vertebra 14 + 10, as in OtoUtJi- 

 iiitt'. Size small. (/T///^?, a small winged insect; also a kind of worm- 

 wood; the allusion not evident.) 



918. S. poBitus Ayres. Qitcen-fixJi ; King-fish. 



Bluish above, sides and below bright silvery, finely punctate ; ver- 

 tical fins all pale yellow; base of pectorals blackish. Body oblong, com- 

 pressed. Depth of head ^ its length. Mouth very large, oblique, the 

 tip of the mandible on 'the level of the pupil, the broad maxillary reach- 

 ing to the posterior margin of the pupil. Teeth small, sharp, separated, 

 in about two series in front and one behind. Gill rakers 3 diameter of 

 eye. Scales ctenoid, very deciduous. Spines very slender. Soft parts 

 of vertical tins largely covered with small deciduous scales. Dorsals 

 well separated, the second inserted in advance of the anal, which ex- 

 tends much further back; caudal concave; pectorals small, barely 

 reaching tips of the small ventrals. Flesh very tender. Head :; : <; 

 depth :;>. 1). VIII-I, liO; A. II, Ul ; Lat. 1. about 00. L. 12-14 incho. 

 Coast of California ; very abundant southward; north to San Francisco. 



(Ayres, Proc. Cal. A.-.-ul. Nat, Sci. ii, no, ls:;i ; (Jill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. IH;-.'. 

 877.) 



FAMILY XCIL GERRID.E. 



(The (JcrroMx.) 



Body oblong or elevated, coni])ressi'd, covered with sparoid scales; 

 lateral line continuous ; mouth moderate, extremely protractile, descend- 

 ing when protruded, the spines of the preiiiaxillary extending to above 

 the eye, closing a deep groove in the top of the head; maxillary with- 

 out supplemental hone, not slipping under the very narrow preorbital ; 

 its surface silvery, like the rest of the head; base of mandible scaly, 



