316 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



five to the anal. Pectorals broad, obtusely pointed, and composed of twenty-two delicate 

 rays ; its length - 9, and width of its base 0*35. Two barbels on each side, having a com- 

 mon origin from the hyoid bone, a short distance behind the symphisis of the chin. The 

 posterior pair 1 ' 1 long ; the anterior pair half that length, and both with filamentous tips. 



Color. Head and upper part of the body and tail ash grey. Abdomen whitish ; the lower 

 part of the sides of the body pale, mixed with soiled yellowish. Three obscure dusky longi- 

 tudinal stripes on each side of the body : the first along the base of the dorsal fin ; another 

 along the lateral line, and a third below this on the sides, only visible on the middle part of 

 the body, and becoming effaced towards the tail. Dorsal, caudal and posterior portion of 

 the anal edged with black on their margins. Pectorals yellow. Barbels white. Pupils black ; 

 irides yellowish, varied with white. A faint interrupted dusky streak on the lower portion of 

 the membrane of the dorsal fin, near its base. 



Length, 9 - 0; of the head, 1*5. Depth of the body, 1-3. 

 Fin rays, D. 120; P. 22; A. 75 ; C. 17. 



This very rare and curious species was taken in a seine in the harbor of New-York, in 

 company with a schole of the Striped Bass (Labrax lineatus). It is doubtless the 0. barba- 

 tum of my venerable friend Dr. Mitchill, which is too succinctly noted in the work cited 

 above. Swainson asserts that Cuvier and all authors describe the barbatum of Europe as 

 having four distinct barbels, whereas there is in reality only one, divided at its base into four 

 filaments ; no good representation, he adds, yet exists of this species. In the species under 

 consideration, there are undoubtedly four, and I can not reconcile my account of it with the 

 barbatum of foreign writers. It has so much the habit of some of the Gadidae, and more 

 especially of the genus Brotula, that our fishermen call it the Little Cusk. 



(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



O. stigma. (Richardson, 1. c. p. 273.) Dilute brown, spotted, and with a purplish spot near the 

 beginning of the dorsal fin. Length five inches. Kotzebue's Sound. 



Genus Fierasper, Cuvier. Body hyaline. Dorsal so thin as to resemble a simple fold of the skin. 

 Snout very obtuse. No barbels. 



JF. borealis? (Peck, Am. Acad. 2d part, Vol. 2, p. 46, pi. 4.) White eel; with a rounded tail. 

 Dorsal of a uniform color. Br. 6; D. 76; P. 14; A. 49; C. 22. Northern Coast. 



F. parryi. (Richardson, 1. c. p. 274.) Greenish brown above. Pectoral fins large, with thirty- 

 seven rays, and extends beyond the vent. Length four to eight inches. Northern Seas. 



