94. LABEID.E. 597 



314. DAMALICHTHYS Girard. 

 (Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1855, 321 : type Damalichthys vacca Girard.) 



Body ovate, compressed, with long caudal peduncle. Head rather 

 large. Mouth moderate, the lower jaw included. Lips full, the lower 

 with a frenum. Teeth very few, short, conical, bluntish, in one series. 

 Gill-rakers short and slender. Lower pharyngeal very large, convex 

 behind in outline, with the lateral horns very short and thick. Anterior 

 tooth-bearing area on the plane of the bone; posterior area inclined 

 backward, forming a steep angle with the anterior part; teeth on an- 

 terior part low, truncate, hexagonal, tessellated ; on posterior part ovate, 

 flattened, imbricated, and turned forward so that the posterior side forms 

 the grinding edge. Scales rather small. Dorsal spines low, much 

 shorter than the soft rays. Anal fin long, with small spines. Vertebrae 

 13 + 21. Species of large size, plainly colored, externally resembling 

 Ditrema, but singularly distinguished from all the other members of 

 the family by the peculiar pharyngeals. (dd<j.aXiq, calf; hOus, fish ; in 

 allusion to its viviparity.) 



94O. D. argyroSOWlMS (Girard) J. & G. White Perch; Poryee. 



Color soiled white, with silvery lustre; three or four obscure dusky 

 bars, most distinct in the young; fins nearly plain, dusky. Form 

 broadly elliptical, the dorsal curve regular; caudal peduncle rather 

 slender. Head not blunt; premaxillary just below the level of the 

 pupil, the maxillary scarcely reaching front of eye. Lips thickish, even. 

 Cheeks with 3 or 4 rows of scales. Gill-rakers not ^ so long as the 

 large eye, which is longer than snout. Teeth very few, short and blunt. 

 Dorsal spines stoutish, the last one highest, half the height of the soft 

 rays. Caudal deeply forked, the upper lobe the longer. Pectoral long. 

 Head 3; depth 2. D. X, 23; A, III, 29; Lat. 1. 63. L. 15 inches. 

 Pacific coast of United States, north to Vancouver's Island; very abun- 

 dant northward. 



(EmUotoca argyrosoma Grd. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, Phila. 1855, 136, and in U. S. Pac. 

 E. E. Surv. Fish. 180: DamaUchthi/s vacca Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1855, 

 321, and in U'. S. Pac. E. E. Surv. Fish. 182: Ditrema vacca Giinfher, iv, 246.) 



FAMILY XCIV. LABRID^E. 



(The Wrasse-fishes.) 



Body oblong or elongate, covered with cycloid scales; lateral line 

 continuous or interrupted, often angularly bent. Mouth moderate, 



