DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 



■IT.) 



length of head. Body coven >d with irregular, roundish, conical plates, varyingmuch in size, 

 some of the larger with a central point, turned backward; all the plates with small tuber- 

 cles and slender flexible prickles; small plates along bases of all the fins; a series oft; large 

 plates extending backward from above eye to opposite the interval between dorsals; a 

 sci us of 5 on each side of middle of Lnterocular space from snout to nape, t hese increasing 

 much in size posteriorly; a series of 3 along opercular margin; along base of spinous dor 



sal a series of 4, not connected with that of interorbital space; a single large plate on each 

 side of the interval between dorsals; two longitudinal series of 4 large plates each, begin- 

 ning above base of pectorals and behind gill slits, terminating under the space between dor- 

 sals; the largest plate on body is immediately behind axil of pectoral; a smaller one below 

 it, and two others between it and origin of anal; two series of smaller plates below eye; 

 many small plates interposed between the series of large oues; very small plates on under 

 side of head and middle of tail; no plates between ventral disk aud vent; none in axil of 

 pectorals. 



Radial formula: D. vn, 11; A. 10; C. 10. 



Color, olivaceous, the skin between the plates thickly punctate. (Jordan and Gilbert, 

 from an Alaska specimen.) 



One specimen was dredged by the D". S. Fish Commission 6 miles off Half Way Eock, 

 Salem, Mass., August 10, 1877, in 35 fathoms. Two specimens were dredged in 1801 by 

 Prof. Verrill, off xVnticosti in 10 fathoms, and another was taken by the IT. S. Fish Com- 

 mission at Eastport, Me., in 1872. 



It was also obtained by the Albatross from station 2456, in 47° 29' N. lat., 52° 18' W. Ion., 

 at a depth of 86 fathoms; from statiou 2450, in 40° 45' N. lat., 50 c 02' 30" W. Ion., at a 

 depth of 41 fathoms; aud from statiou 2445, iu 46° 09' 30" IT. lat., 49° 48' 30" W. Ion., at a 

 depth of 39 fathoms. 



Collett's specimens were from the northeastern Atlantic and from a depth of 129 

 fathoms. 



Family LIPARIDID^E. 



Family Discoboli, group Liparidina, (H.vther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., ill, 1861, 154. 



Liparitlidtc, ( Jin., Ait. Families of Fishes, 1872, 5 (No. 48) ; Century Dictionary, 3471. — Jordan and Gilbert, 



Bull., XVI, U. S. Nat. Mus., 738 (full description).— Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xm, 370, 1891.— Garman. 



Discoboli, 1892, 43. 



Body anteriorly broad, rounded, somewhat depressed, compressed behind, covered with 

 smooth skin, which is usually very lax. Head obtuse, broad, the snout wide and blunt; 

 suborbital bone styliform behind, joined to the opercle, as iu the Oottoids. Mouth terminal. 

 Jaws with villiform bands of small teeth, tricuspid to simple; no teeth on vomer or pala 

 tines. Premaxillaries protractile, little movable. Opercular bones unarmed; iuteropercle 

 slender, ray-like, overlying the branchiostegals. Grill-openings small, above base of pec- 

 toral, with membranes joined to the broad isthmus, and to the humeral arch below. Grills 

 34, no slit behind the last. Pseudobranchi;e rudimentary or wanting. Pyloric caeca nu- 

 merous. No air-bladder. Dorsal fin long, with feeble and flexible spines, similar to the 

 soft rays. Anal long, similar to the soft dorsal. Ventrals, when present, completely united, 

 and forming the bony center of an oval sucking-disk, but sometimes entirely wanting. 

 Pectorals very broad, the base extending forward under throat; the outline usually einar- 

 1US08— Xo. 2 18 



