102. (a) LATILID^E. 623 



the inner rays longest. Skeleton well ossified. Pyloric cosca few (2 or 

 3). ~So anal papilla. North Pacific. (;3a0u?, deep; ij.aarijp, a searcher.) 



IS. siignaians Cope. lionquil. 

 Olivaceous, tinged with brown; about 8 round, faint bluish blotches 

 along- the sides, each surrounded by rings of yellow spots; a yellow 

 ring around the eye and a yellow band along the cheek; fins translu- 

 cent, the anal with a yellowish stripe and a t)luish edging; dorsal red- 

 dish or yellow, with a dusky blotch in front; ventrals dusky; larger 

 specimens nearly uniformly dark. Eye large, about as long as snout, 

 4 in head; its diameter much more than interocular space; maxillary 

 extending to below front of pupil; cheeks closely scaly; rest of head 

 entirely naked; a narrow, naked area in front of dorsal, bounded by 

 rows of mucous pores; skull with large mucous cavities behind the 

 eyes, which are translucent in life; scales of lateral line enlarged, twice 

 as far apart as the others. Dorsal fin inserted at a distance behind 

 the occiput, less than the diameter of the eye; pectorals | the length 

 of the head; fourth ray of ventrals longest; vent much nearer snout 

 than root of caudal; caudal vertebras about 33. Head 4^; depth 6. 

 D. 41: A. 33; V. I, 5; P. 18; Lat. 1. 02 + G (tubes); scales in about 200 

 transverse series. L. 12 inches. Alaska to Puget Sound, about rocks, 

 in water of moderate depth. 



(Cope, Proc. Amor. Phil. Soc. Phila. 1873.) 



FAMILY CII (a) LATILID^E * 



(The Blanquillos.) 



Body more or less elongate, fusiform or compressed. Head subcon- 

 ical, the profile usually convex; suborbital without bony stay; cranial 

 bones not cavernous; opercular bones armed or not. Mouth moderate, 

 terminal, usually little oblique; teeth rather strong; premaxillary usu- 

 ally with a posterior canine; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary with- 

 out supplemental bone, not slipping under the edge of the preorbital. 

 Gills 4, a long slit behind the fourth. Pseudobranchias well developed. 

 Gill-membranes separate, or more or less united, often adherent to the 

 isthmus. Lower pharyugeals separate. Scales small, ctenoid. Lateral 

 line present, complete. Dorsal fin long and low, usually continuous, the 

 spinous portion always much less developed than the soft portion, but 

 never obsolete; anal fin very long, its spines usually feeble and few; 



"Called TracJnnid(c in the key oil page 78; see also family 102 (b), Trichodontidcu. 



