DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 



273 



length of head. Body covered with irregular, rouudish, couical plates, varying much 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 of 6 large 

 plates extending backward from above eye to op[)osite the interval between dorsals; a 

 series of 5 on each side of middle of iutcrocular space from snout to nape, these increasing 

 much in size posteriorly j a series of 3 along oitercular 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 i)lates 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 ones; very small plates on under 

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

 pectorals. 



Eadial formula: D. vii, 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 U. S. Fish Commission 6 miles off Half Way Eock, 

 Salem, Mass., August 10, 1877, in 3.5 fathoms. Two specimens were dredged in 1861 by 

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

 mission at Bastport, 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 80 fathoms; from station 2150, in 46° 45' N. lat., 50= 02' 30" W. Ion., at a 

 depth of 44 fathoms; and from station 2445, in 46° 09' 30" N. lat., 49° 48' 30" W. Ion., at a 

 depth of 39 fathoms. 



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

 fathoms. 



Family LIPARIDIDvE. 



Family Diseoioli, group Liparidina, Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 154. 



Liparididw, Gill, 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., xiii, 370, 1891.— Garma.x, 



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 Cottoids. 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; interopercle 

 slender, ray-like, overlying the brauchiostegals. Gill-openings small, above base of pec- 

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

 3i, no slit behind the last. Pseudobranchite rudimentary or wanting. Pyloric c;TBca nu- 

 merous. Xo 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 tlie bony center of an oval sucking disk, but sometimes entirely wanting. 

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

 19808— Xo. 2 18 



