650 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY - IV. 



those iu the lower jaw in a single series laterally, and in a narrow baud 

 in front ; upper jaw, voiuer, and palatines each with a baud of similar 

 teeth. Ilead entirely scaly. Xo supraorbital flap. Preopercle un- 

 armed, its mcnibrauaceous edge creuulate. Gill-ruembraues joined 

 to the isthmus. Body entirely covered with minute ctenoid scales. 

 Lateral line single. Dorsals short, well separated, the first of slender, 

 flexible spines; second dorsal shorter, similar to" the anal, which is pre- 

 ceded by three weak spines ; veutrals but little behind pectorals; caudal 

 tin forked. Peritoneum black. Pyloric cceca about two, long and slen- 

 der. Gill-rakers slender, few, uot very short. Xorth Pacific. 

 unarmed; -/.*</, operculuin.) 



1OO6. A. fimbria (Pallas) Gill. Beshow; Coal-fish. 



Color slaty-black or grayish, somewhat reticulated; white below, the 

 yonng rather pale; adult nearly black; fins dusky; caudal edged with 

 pale; lining of the opercle black. Premaxillaries on the level of the 

 lower part of the orbit; maxillary reaching to opposite front of pupil. 

 Dorsal fins separated by a distance nearly equal to two-thirds length of 

 the base of soft dorsal, the spines very weak; the fourth longest; pec- 

 torals reaching beyond tips of veutrals, not half way to vent. Head 4 ; 

 depth GJ. D. XX-1, 17; A. Ill, 15; Lat. 1. 190. Usual length 18 inches, 

 but sometimes much larger. Monterey to Alaska; rather common, es- 

 pecially northward. A very singular and interesting fish. 



( (iadus fimbria Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. iii, 200, 1811: AnopJopoma merlangus 

 Ayrfs, J'roc. Cal. Ac-ad. Nat. Sci. lsr>D, 27 : Scombrocottus nalmoneus Peters, Berlin. 

 Mouatsber.) 



FAMILY CVI 



(The Roclc-Jishcs.) 



Colloid fishes, with the body oblong, more or less compressed, the head 

 generally large, and usually with one or more pairs of ridges above, 

 which terminate, in spines. Opercle usually with t\vo spinous pro- 

 cesses; prcoperde, with live. Mouth terminal, usually large, with 

 villii'orm teeth on jaws and vomer, and usually on the palatines. I're 

 niaxillarics protractile; maxillary broad, without supplemental bone, 

 not slipping under preorhital. Gill-openings wide; the gill-membranes 

 separate and fi ee from the isthmus; usually no slit behind the fourth 

 gill. Scales ctenoid, or sometimes cycloid, usually well developed, 

 .sometimes nearly obsolete. Lateral line single. A bony stay extend- 

 ing backward from the suborbital toward the preopercle. Ventral 

 tins thoracic, of the normal percoid form, I, 5, the rays branched; dor- 



