GTS CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



ing along its surface and that of the suborbital; this ridge, somewhat 

 rough and not covered with the scales, is continuous with the short sub- 

 orbital stay; preopercular spines short, very blunt, the opercular spines 

 very strong; scapular spines moderate. Gill-rakers short and stout, 

 clavate, the longest nearly one-third the diameter of the eye. Dorsal 

 spines rather high and strong, the longest 2^ in head, about as high as 

 soft rays, the fin not deeply einarginate; caudal tin rounded; anal fin 

 high, its second spine 2J in head, higher and much stronger than the 

 third; pectorals broad, fan shaped, 3| in length, their base one-third 

 broader than the diameter of the orbit, their tips not quite reaching 

 tips of ventrals. Scales rough. Peritoneum white. Head 2i; depth 

 2. D. XIII, 15; A. Ill, 7; Lat. 1. 50. L. 15 inches. San Francisco 

 to Vancouver's Island, in deep water; rare southward. A large and 

 singular species. 



(Sebastes nigrocinctits Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. ii, 25, 159, and 217, f. 67: Selas- 

 tichthys nifjrocinctus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 278.) 



359. SCORP^ENA Linmcua. 

 Rascacios. 



(SebaHtaplstcs Gill : Parascorpwna Bleeker: Pscudoscbastes Sauvage : Pontinus Poey.) 



(Artedi; Linmeus, Systema Nature, 17,'s : type Soorpcena porcus ~L.) 



Body oblong, somewhat compressed. Head large, not much com- 

 pressed, usually naked above, and armed with several series of spinous 

 ridges; often with dermal flaps. Mouth large, with bands of villiform 

 teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Scales mostly ctenoid, of mod- 

 crate size, often with skinny flaps. Dorsal fin with 12 stout spines; 

 anal with 3 spines, the second commonly the longest; pectorals large, 

 rounded, the base usually procurrent; the upper rays divided, the lower 

 simple in all our species; ventrals inserted behind pectorals. No air- 

 bladder. Vertebra; 10 + 14. Species numerous in the tropical seas; 

 fishes of singular forms and bright colors; the variation in squamat inn 

 and armature is very great, but if the group be further subdivided, 







some characters other than those hitherto suggested must be taken. 

 The intergradatioii of the species of tirorpu-iut and HclHtNtotlcx is very 

 perfect. The greater number oi' dorsal spines and of vertebra) afford 

 the only characters known to us by which ScbtiNtotlr* may be distin- 

 guished from Xt-iH-jHt-nti. (<r /.<>; >-aiva, the ancient name of Scorpccna 

 .svro/'ft, from <T/<Y<-:-, scorpion, in allusion to the dorsal spines, which 

 inflict a very painful sting-like wound.) 



