42 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



the third and fourth shorter and more robust, directed downward and forward; the upper two preo- 

 percular spines reaching to or almost to edge of opercle ; numerous small pores scattered on top and sides 

 of head; pair of symphyseal pores directed mesad, opening separately into a common pit or depression 

 which lies between them; gill membranes wholly free from isthmus; no pore behind last gill arch; 

 mandible well included; broad bands of minute villiform teeth in both jaws, very narrow bands on 

 vomer and palatines; maxillary reaching vertical from middle of eye. Preorbital narrowed posteriorly 

 through the upcurving of the lower margin, narrower than in Icelus uncinalis. 



Fig. 3. — helus spatula, new species. Type. 



Dorsal series of plates usually incomplete anteriorly, greatly diminished in size or disappear- 

 ing under the anterior half of spinous dorsal; it is variable in extent posteriorly, but typically 

 reaches middle of caudal peduncle; a well-defined band of prickles accompanies the dorsal series 

 of plates, leaving a naked strip along base of the dorsal fins; lateral line always complete, the area 

 between it and the dorsal series of plates naked, without prickles or scattered plates; afew large spinous 

 plates behind the pectoral fin; top and sides of head, as far down as preorbital and suborbital stay, 

 covered with minute prickles, which are a trifle coarser and less numerous than in Icelus uncinalis. 



Dorsal fins separated; spinous dorsal low, not elevated in males, much 

 lower than second dorsal; caudal emarginate when folded, truncate or gently 

 rounded when spread; pectoral reaching base of fourth anal ray; ventrals 

 reaching vent. The dorsal spines and a few of the anterior dorsal rays 

 are accompanied by series of small prickles. 



Color in spirits: Less definitely marked than Icelus uncinalis, the dorsal 

 bands usually less evident, more broken up by longitudinal wavy lines of 

 the ground color, the effect being often of fine mottlings or reticulations of 

 light and dark, in which the four bars are faintly discernible; usually two 

 narrow dark blotches on spinous dorsal, the soft dorsal and caudal being 

 barred; anal and ventrals unmarked; pectoral with a small dark blotch at 

 base of median rays, the distal and upper parts of fin rather faintly barred; 

 head mottled like the back, with a dark bar before and one below the eye. 



'Ain 



Fig. 3a. — IceUis spatula, anal 

 papilla, posterior view. 



The species is most closely related to Icelus uncinalis, from which it seems geographically to be 

 separated by the deep channel between Kamchatka and the Commander Islands. In addition to the 

 difference in coloration, the higher occipital crests, the larger preopercular spines, and tlie slightly 

 increased number of rays in second dorsal and anal, the species is distinguished by the form of the 

 anal papilla in the male. This is distinctly spatular in shape, widening from base to the end of the 

 basal segment, which is broad, rounded at tip and emarginate on the middle line, the terminal segment 

 being extremely short, curved like a claw, springing from the dorsal (posterior) side of the basal portion 

 and not extending beyond it. 



