850 CONTRIBUTIONS* TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY - IV. 



473. MAL.THE Cuvier. 



Sea Bats. 

 (Cnvier, Rf-^nc Animal, ii, 1817: type Lophius respertilio L.) 



Body stoutish; head very broad and depressed, triangular in form, 

 the forehead elevated and produced. Mouth rather small, sub-inferior; 

 villiform teeth in bands, on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Skin with con- 

 ical, bony protuberances. Dorsal and anal fins very small; rostral ten- 

 tacle present, retractile into a cavity under a bony prominence on the 

 forehead; ventrals present, I, 5, well separated. No air-bladder; no 

 pyloric coaca. Coasts of America. (/j.dAOr n a name of some soft-bodied 

 fish.) 



131*2. BI. vcspertilio (Liun.) Cuv. Bat-fish. 



Pale grayish brown above, reddish below. Distance between the 

 anterior angles of orbits much less than that between the posterior 

 angles; forehead produced in a sub-conical process, which is variable 

 in length but longer than in the other species, about -^ of total length; 

 rostral groove longer than broad. D. 4; A. 4. L. 6 inches. Atlantic, 

 coasts of America, chiefly southward. 



(Loplnns vespcrlilio Linn. Syst. Nat.; Giinther, iii, 200.) 



Suhsp. nasiita (Cuv. & Val.) J. & G. 



Dusky above, with round, black spots, edged with whitish. Rostral 

 process short, about one-thirteenth of the length of the body; cavity of 

 rostral tentacle higher than broad; vent behind middle of body; width 

 across arms about half length of body. Head U. D. 4; A. 4. South 

 Atlantic coast of the United States. 



( MiilHiirii iiiixtiln and noldhi Cuv. &, Val. xii, 452, 453: Mallhc nolala Liitken Naturh. 

 l'.n-n. Vidrnsk. .Mcddcls. l>i;.">, 4.) 



1313. II. cubifYoii* l.'irh. 



llosti-al ea\ity somewhat broader than high; distance between ante- 

 rior angles of orbits about equal to that between the posterior angles; 

 snout not produced beyond the rostral cavity, but with a cylindrical 

 button-like tubercle slightly contracted at base, pointing obliquely up- 

 wards and forwards; caudal peduncle very thick and heavy. Head L,'; 

 width acVoss arms Li. 1). 1; A. 4. Coast of Florida; the original type 

 said to have come I'roin Labiador. Reaches a length of more than a 

 foot. 



(Richards 1'aiin. l!..r.-AiiiiT. Fish. p. ID:!; Giintber, iii, 203.) 



