FAMILY TRIGL1D<£ CRYPTACANTHODES. 63 



I have never had an opportunity of seeing this rare species, and have copied from Storer 

 his figure of one found on the coast of Massachusetts. It occurs in the Arctic seas, is unim- 

 portant as an article of food, and is very rare. 



GENUS CRYPTACANTHODES. Storer. 



Body anguilliform, compressed, gradually tapering to the tail, without scales. Head broad, 

 with no projecting spines but the angles of the gill-covers. The scapular and humeral 

 spines, and the lower edge of the preopercle, prominent to the touch. Branchial rays 

 seven. A single dorsal, with strong spinous rays, and united with the caudal and anal. 

 No ventral fins. Teeth in the jaws, vomer and palatines. 



Obs. This genus was established by Dr. Storer, for the reception of a remarkable fish 

 which appears occasionally on the seacoast of Massachusetts. 



THE SPOTTED WRY-MOUTH. 



CRYPTACANTHODES MACULATUS. 

 PLATE XVIII. FIG. 50. AMD WITH THE HEAD ENLARGED. — (CAB. BOST. NAT. HIST. SOCIETY.) 

 Cryptacanthodes maculatus, Spotted Wry-mouth. Storer, Mass. Rep. p. 28. 



Characteristics. Reddish brown, with darker reddish blotches, forming two longitudinal series, 

 on the sides. Length twelve to twenty inches. 



Description. Body elongated, compressed, scaleless. Lateral line straight, with the ap- 

 pearance of interrupted dots. Head large, flattened above, with several bony processes and 

 ridges ; two prominent ones running from the orbits backwards to the occiput. The posterior 

 angles of the opercle and preopercle, the whole lower edge of the latter, and the scapular 

 bones, all seem like sharp points and edges concealed under the skin. Opercle small, 1 ■ 

 long, rounded on its lower margin, acute behind ; its upper margin forming a bony ridge, and 

 united to the preopercle by a membrane at its upper angle. Preopercle large ; its upper and 

 posterior angles obvious to the touch ; its lower edge sharp, and feeling as if divided into two 

 ridges. Branchial membrane capacious, dilatable, and forming a large fold above the base 

 of the pectorals, where it unites with the common skin. Eyes moderate, nearly vertical, 0'3 

 in diameter, and 0"63 apart ; the intervening space between the orbits depressed, with nume- 

 rous pits or cavities. Nostrils tubular, and placed on a line with the upper margin of the 

 orbits, at the edge of the intermaxillaries. Mouth wide, terminal, opening obliquely upwards. 

 Lips large and fleshy. Minute straight conic teeth disposed in bands on the jaws, with an 

 intermediate free space in the middle ; a patch of similar teeth on the vomer ; several series 

 of longer and more acute and recurved teeth on the palatines. 



The dorsal fin arises 3 - 4 distant from the end of the snout, and nearly above the middle of 

 the pectorals ; it is united to, and continuous with the caudal : all its rays are stoutly spinous 



