1895.] NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 411 



villiform bands on jaws, vomer and palatines; eyes large, set high 

 in head, a little shorter than snout; interorbital space deeply con- 

 cave, half as wide as eye; a slip of skin, half as long as the diam- 

 eter of the eye, over the anterior edge of each eye, and a longer 

 one over the posterior edge; a few minute fleshy slips on nape; nasal 

 spines long and sharp, somewhat curved backward; spine on pre- 

 opercle simple, hooked upward, a minute spine above it, and a 

 blunt spine below; posterior end of interopercle prominent, forming 

 a blunt spine; opercle produced posteriorly in a flap, which lies in 

 a shallow groove in the shoulder-girdle; no opercular spine; gill- 

 membranes united, but not joined to the isthmus; a distinct slit 

 behind fourth gill arch; branchiostegals 5. 



Top of head to middle of eyes, opercles and upper part of pre- 

 opercles, closely covered with small rough scales; head otherwise 

 naked; body above lateral line completely covered with ctenoid 

 scales, not very regular in size, arranged in about 67 series; lower 

 half of body covered to within a short distance of anal with about 

 50 oblique plate- like folds of skin, the posterior edges of which are 

 finely and sharply serrate; the pores of lateral line are situated in 

 the upper ends of these folds; base of pectoral, belly and a narrow 

 space along base of anal, naked; fins, all naked, with the exception 

 of pectoral, which has a few rough scales on the rays; vent situated 

 at anterior end of anal fin. 



Dorsal spines slender, the first one inserted in advance of base of 

 pectoral, directly over the upper end of gill-opening; the fin some- 

 what rounded in outline, the spines not varying greatly in length, 

 with the exception of two or three on each side, which are shortened ; 

 soft dorsal a little lower than spinous, the rays sub- equal; the base is 

 a little shorter than the base of first dorsal, and slightly longer than 

 the length of head; ventral fins, long, inserted behind base of pec- 

 torals, by a distance equal to snout and half eye, their tips reaching 

 past front of anal fin, their length equal to the distance from snout 

 to edge of preopercle; the pubic bone very prominent; pectoral fins 

 long and curved upward, the middle rays the longest, reaching far 

 past tips of ventrals and front of anal to the space between dorsals, 

 the ends of lower rays free; the width of the fin at its base contained 

 3 times in the length of the head; caudal rounded. 



Color in spirits blackish, with traces of 4 or 5 darker cross bars 

 on back; sides below lateral line mottled, faint dark spots along 



