DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIK DISTRIBUTION. 345 



Family OPHIDIID>£. 



i, it in, ,i,in, I,' w immii e, [ndice d [ttiologia Sicilians, 1810, 34. 



Ophidiida:, Bonaparte, Saggio, etc., 1832,38; Cat. Met., 41.— GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iv, 370 (part).— 



Gn i.. Air. Fam, Fish., 1872, :i (No. 19); Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ls.s;, 177. 

 Ophidioninat, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish., etc., 1839, 11, 179. 

 Ophidini, .Mi'1.1 1:1:. Berl. Abhandl., 1840. 

 Ophidioidei, Bleeker, Teatamen, \\v (part). 



Ophidioidea,witb chin centrals, represented by bifid, barbel-like filaments, and the anus 

 in the anterior hall' of the length. | Gill.) 



KEY To THE GENERA OF < M'lll IM1D/E. 



A. Outer teeth in jaws fixed. 



1. Operculum unarmed [Ophidicm] 



2. A sharp concealed spine on the operculum ( Itophididm 



1:. Outer teeth in jaws movable. Top of head scaly Leptophidium 



OTOPHIDIUM, (Jill. 



Genyplenis, Phillipi, Wiegm. Archiv., 1857, 268. 

 Otophidium, Gill,, in Jordan, Cat. Fish, N. A., 1885, 126. 



A genus with characters of Ophidium, ami also provided with a short concealed spine 

 on the opercle. 



OTOPHIHIfM OM< >STIGMA, (Jordan and Gilbert), Jordan. (Figure ::i»:.. 1 



Gcnypterus omosiigmu, Jordan and Gilbert, Froc. 1*. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 301 ; Bull, xvi, I*. S. Nat. Mus , 



963. 

 Otophidium omostigma, Jordan, Cat. Fish, N. A., 1885, 126. 



Body comparatively short, highest at occiput; thence tapering rapidly to tip of tail; 

 upper profile of head very convex; snout blunt; mouth horizontal, the lower jaw included : 

 maxillary not quite reaching posterior bonier of orbit; teeth in jaws uniform, strongly in- 

 curved, in rather broad bands; a single series of small teeth in vomer; those on palatines 

 minute; maxillary 1 J in head ; eye large, 3 in head, much larger than snout, equaling twice 

 interorbital width; opercle terminating in a strong, compressed spine, the length of which 

 is about two thirds diameter of pupil; gill-rakers very small, 4 below on anterior arch. 

 Longest ventral filament half length of head; the shorter three-quarters length of longer. 

 Distance from origin of dorsal to tip of snout 3J in total length; distance from origin of 

 anal to snout 2£ in total length. Scales minute, imbedded. Pseudobranchhe not evident. 

 Air bladder short, thick, with a, large posterior foramen. Head 4.\- in length ; depth about fi. 



Color light olive green, silvery on belly, cheeks, and lower side of head; sides above 

 with a few irregular, large, scattered, dark blotches; about '.» of these along base of dorsal 

 fin; an intensely black, round blotch on scapular region, rather larger than pupil; dorsal 

 with black blotches; anal largely black; upper half of eye black, lower half bright silvery. 



A single specimen, 3£ inches long (No. 29670,IT. S. Nat. Mus.), taken from the stomach 

 of a red snapper, at Pensacola. 



LEPTOPHIDIUM, Gill. 

 Leptophidium, Gill, Troc. Phil. Acad. Xat. Sci., 1863, 210. 



I tody much elongated, moderately compressed, and with the back and abdominal regions 

 arched, more compressed and slowly decreasing in height backward to an abruptly rounded 

 point. 



Anus toward the end of the first third of the length. 



Scales regularly imbricated in quincunx, oval, with the nucleus in front of the center, 

 and with stria' radiating backward. 



Lateral line concurrent with and near the back for about half the length, obsolescent 

 behind. 



