Vol. 35, pp. 13-16 March 20, 1922 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



OTOPHIDIUM WELSHI, A NEW CUSK EEL, WITH" 



NOTES ON TWO OTHERS FROM THE 



GULF OF MEXICO.i 



BY JOHN T. NICH0LS2 AND C. M. BREDER, JR.^ 



In reviewing certain material from the Gulf of 'Mexico it was 

 found that an undescribed Otophidium was represented therein, 

 which is believed to be entirely worthy of specific rank, while 

 two other species of the family Ophidiidae, although known, 

 have been so far only described from very scant material which 

 makes the redescriptions embodied in this paper necessarily 

 of some value to students of these httle known fishes. The 

 material which forms the basis of this description and the two 

 redescriptions was collected under the direction of the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries; the writers being indebted to that 

 institution for permission to make use of the specimens. 



The accompanying sketches are from the pen of Mr. W. W. 

 Welsh, being drawings which he had executed for his personal 

 notes. He probably expected at some date to use them in 

 descriptions of these forms, which plan he was prevented from 

 carrying out by his untimely demise. 



Lepophidium brevibarbe (Cuvier). 



A short spine at tip of snout. Occiput and opercles scaly. The scales 

 do not run forward of the anterior margin of pupil above, and do not reach 

 posterior margin of pupil below. Developed gill-rakers 4 in number. 

 Scales about 170 to 185, not closely imbricated and somewhat irregularly 

 arranged, the longitudinal rows above the lateral line, anteriorly, oblique 

 to it, running diagonally backward and upward, those immediately below 

 the lateral line more or less parallel to it, those lower down more or less 



iPublished by permission of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 

 2American Museum of Natural BQstory. 

 3 New York Aquarium. 



5— Proo. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 35, 1922. (13) 



