FAMILY TRIGUDiE HEMITRIPTERUS. 57 



the first, as to have been considered but one by some writers : indeed, in the specimen before 

 me, it is actually connected by a membrane : this fin terminates above the end of the anal ; 

 its middle rays are longest, nearly equaling in height the first rays of the anterior dorsal. 

 The pectoral fins wide, oval, and attached obliquely behind the gills, the tips of the longest 

 rays extending to the space between the first and second dorsals. Ventral fins small, and 

 composed of a short, stout and blunt spine, and of three soft rays, of which the middle is 

 longest. Anal fin equaling in extent the second dorsal ; the rays are longest behind. Caudal 

 fin very slightly rounded, nearly even. 



Color. The whole surface of the head, body and fins, of a bright lemon-yellow. In a 

 variety described by Mitchill as S. purpurea, the color is russet-brown, varied with whitish 

 and yellowish blotches ; abdomen pale orange yellow. Another variety, his S. rufa, has a 

 more uniform reddish hue, unclouded. 



Length, 12" 0-24-0. 



Radial formula, Br. 6 ; D. 16.14 ; P. 18; V. 1.3 ; A. 14; C. 12 f. 



This beautifully colored but oddly shaped fish, of which I have seen but two specimens, is 

 comparatively rare on our coast. It is known by fishermen under the names of Sea Raven 

 and -Sea Sculpin, and is taken in company with the cod along the coast. Its skeleton has 

 thirty-nine vertebras, sixteen abdominal and twenty-three caudal. Pyloric orifice with six 

 cffical appendages. The urinary bladder very large. No air-bladder. Feeds on the smaller 

 fishes. 



The Sea Raven is subject to great variations in its color, from bright lemon-yellow to 

 carmine. It is a northern species, not extending south of New- York, and becoming more 

 abundant as we proceed north. 



Fauna — Part 4. 



