THE DISCOBOLI. 39 



on the opercle, a larger one behind the gill opening, several small ones close 

 along the bases of the dorsals, and an elongate band on the hinder part of 

 the flank and on the base of the caudal portion. Peculiar marks exist in 

 a brown blotch, on each side of the hinder part of the abdomen, on which 

 is a bunch of three white spots, like a clover leaf, in a white band reach- 

 ing toward the flank at each side of the hinder margin of the disk, and 

 in a white spot at the posterior ends of the branchiostegal rajs. 



Total length a little less than two inches. 



Hab. — St. Paul's Island, Alaska. 



Anatomy. 



Viscera. — The esophagus is short and thick. The stomach is large; 

 its shape resembles that of a horseshoe or a letter U. On leaving the 

 esophagus it turns toward the left side, and, passing back, crosses the cham- 

 ber and turns forward on the right. The pylorus is surrounded by ten or 

 eleven elongate cajca that do not appear to unite with one another, but 

 which enter the intestine by as many distinct openings immediately below 

 the valve. Within the stomach there is a large quantity of seaweed, some- 

 what like dulse or sea-moss, and parts of a number of small Crustacea. Ap- 

 parently the intestine is more than one and a half times the total length. 

 The spleen is elongate and slender. Forward, the kidneys are thick and 

 large ; posteriorly they taper, and toward the middle of the abdomen they 

 unite. The bladder is large and simple ; beneath it, between the papilla 

 and the first ray of the anal fin, the skin assumes the appearance of a prom- 

 inent blister. In the specimen, less than one and seven eighths inches 

 long, the eggs are nearly ready for exclusion, and the ovaries have an 

 elongate kidney-shape. They discharge through a common duct, meeting 

 that from the bladder behind the vent. The liver lies below the stomach ; 

 its left lobe is very large, broad and long, subquadrate, while the right is 

 small, short, and continuous with the left, the slight indentation in the 

 hinder margin being the only separation. The gall bladder is quite small, 

 and rounded in shape. 



The presence of such a quantity of vegetable matter in the stomach, 

 taken in connection with similar discoveries in stomachs of Cyclopterus, 

 indicates that the consumption of such food is characteristic of the 

 family. 



