390 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



an. Skin smooth, without dermal ossifications. 



O2 3. F. scrrala CUVUT. 



( i ravish ; sometimes with a series of blue spots along the back or sides; 

 head siivery below. Form much as iu the preceding, but head and body 

 broader and more depressed; edges of snout more distinctly serrated, 

 it foramen in the axil of pectoral. Snout 3 in length. Head 2. D. 

 14; A. 13. "Warm seas; rare northward ; perhaps the same as the pre- 

 ceding. 

 (Cuvier, Etgne Anira. 1817; Guntlicr, iii. 5153.) 



FAMILY LXIL AULOSTOMATID^E. 



(The Flute-mouths.) 



Body compressed, elongate, covered with small ctenoid scales. Lat- 

 eral line continuous. Head long; mouth small, at the end of a long, 

 compressed tube. Lower jaw prominent, with a barbel at the symphy- 

 sis. Premaxillary feeble, not protractile; maxillary broad, triangular, 

 with a supplemental bone. Teeth minute, in bands, on lower jaw and 

 vomer. Branchiostegals 4. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Pseudo- 

 branchiae well developed. Gill-rakers obsolete. Gill-membranes sepa- 

 rate, free from the isthmus. Air-bladder large. Spinous dorsal pres- 

 ent, of 8-12 very slender free spines. Soft dorsal and anal rather long, 

 similar, posterior. Caudal small, rhombic, the middle rays longest, but 

 not produced into a filament. Ventrals abdominal, of six rays, all articu- 

 lated. Pectorals broad, rounded, the space in front of them scaly. Two 

 pyloric co3ca. A single genus, with two species, found in tropical seas. 

 (Fistularidw pt. genus AuJostona Giintlu-r, iii, r>'.Jr>-. r >'JS. ) 



191. AULOSTOUIA Lar ( >\le. 

 (Lan-|i. -de. Hist. Nat. Poiss. v, l!.">7, l^n:?: typo Fistnlariit diincnsis L.) 



Characters of the genus included above. (u/r, tube; ern^a, mouth.) 



<iv !. A. inni'BiDntBBKi \".-il. 



Olivaceous, with one or two series of brown or blue dots along each 

 side of the bade; another irregular series from the preoperculum along 

 cadi side of the belly to the anal tin; three, or four silvery lines on each 

 Mile of abdomen, replaced on the head by irregular oblique streaks; 

 anterior part of dorsal and anal with a hori/onlal black streak; caudal 

 Jin usually with two round black spots ; ventral tins plain. 1). X -!'"> ; 

 A. LV>; V. 0. (fiiinfhrr.) Cai-il)lean Sea, north to Southern Florida; 

 probably identical with .1. cliiiu'inc. 



(Valfiic. inCiiv. IJi-^iii- .\:iiin:il, l~17: Aulaetomaooloratum MiLllcr &Troscb. Scbouib. 

 Hist. Karbail. 1-I-, 'uJ: .litl<nt<nnn <-loratum Giinthor, iii, 5:5!!.) 



