FISHES FROM BERING SEA AND KAMCHATKA. 



65 



cirrus near end of maxillary, one near end of opercular flap, a few scattered on top of head; both pairs 

 of nostrils in tubes, the posterior the longer; mouth wide, oblique, lower jaw included, maxillary reach- 

 ing vertical behind pupil; teeth in villiform bands on jaws, none on vomer or palatines. 



Spinous dorsal beginning over opercular flap, continuous with soft dorsal, a notch between them; 

 the tips of spines protrude, projecting freely from the membrane; short dorsal and anal long, the free 

 portion of caudal peduncle very short; pectoral with broad prociurent base, all tlie rays simple, the 

 lower slightly thickened and with protruding tips; ventrals nearly reaching vent; caudal rounded. 



Color in spirits: Light gray, the head and body thickly so^vn with minute black pigment specks; 

 a faint dusky bar below spinous dorsal, two below soft dorsal, the posterior most distinct, and one on 

 caudal pedimcle and base of caudal fin; the margin of soft dorsal is translucent, unmarked, this border 

 increasing in width posteriorly where it is dark edged below; central part of caudal clear, with a dark 

 bar on lower rays, the terminal part with one bar or two confluent bars, the posterior margin clear; 

 pectorals with faint dusky reticulations, the margin translucent; ventrals unmarked. 



Only the type known. 



AGONID^. 

 Percis japonicus (Pallas). 



A specimen 2'^ inches long from station 4794, off Avatcha Bay, Kamchatka; depth 58 fathoms. 



Hypsagonus quadricomis (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



Taken at the following localities, on Petrel Bank and the Komandorski Plateau: 



List op Stations. 



Pallasina barbata (Steindachner). 



Of this widely varying group, the present collection contains numerous specimens from Unalaska 

 and others from Petropavlovsk . For purposes of comparison, we have examined also all the material 

 in the United States National Museum and the Stanford University collections. In general form 

 and proportions of parts and in the arrangement and sculpture of tlie plates we find no characters of 

 value for distinction of forms. The variable features are the length of the mental barbel, the numbers 

 of dorsal, anal, and pectoral fin rays, and the number of impaired median plates on the breast. Each 

 of these characters is subject to a certain amount of variation in any one locality, less, however, than 

 the total variation exhibited by the species. In this respect Pallasina differs from the majority of 

 marine fishes, and resembles fresh-water forms, in which isolated colonies take on slightly distinctive 

 combinations of characters. In Pallasina certain groups of contiguous localities are marked by fairly 

 distinguishable strains, which seem to intergrade to a degree in orderly geographic sequence. The 

 limited material at oiu- disposal does not permit the determination of the botmdaries of these minor 

 groups, nor indeed the question as to their recognition in taxonomy. 



The type of Pallasina barbata came from the Arctic just north of Bering Strait. The only other 

 available name is P. aix, described from Pugct Sound. As the form characteristic of Puget Sound and 

 the coasts immediately to the north is one of the best distinguished of the minor groups, we suggest that 

 aix be reduced to subspecific rank and used to denote it. The form is characterized by the prevalence 

 of 2 unpaired plates on median line of breast, of 11 anal and 11 pectoral rays, and by the very short 



