58 Storer^s Descriptions 



Art. VII.— descriptions OF TWO NEW SPECIES OF FISHES. 

 By D. Humphreys Storer, M. D. (Read April 21st, 1841.) 



A few weeks since, through the kind attention of Mr. 

 Moses Williams, Jr. of Roxbury, a member of this Society, 

 I received from Lake Winnipissiogee, a beautiful fresh speci- 

 men of Lota, a description of which I beg leave to offer. 



Lota Brosmiana. 

 Plate V. Fig. 1. 



The specimen, which was a female, was twentyseven 

 inches in length ; the length of the head was five and a half 

 inches. The body is very broad in front of the dorsal fin ; 

 it becomes much compressed on the sides back of the first 

 dorsal, and tapers to the caudal fin. Its general color is yel- 

 lowish; the back, between the back of the head and the 

 origin of the dorsal fin, exhibits a reddish tint : the top of 

 the head and the opercula are fuliginous, the latter exhibiting 

 golden reflections in their centre. The body beneath is 

 I white. The whole body is perfectly smooth, covered by in- 

 numerable cup-shaped depressions, like that of the Zoarchus 

 anguillaris, and like that species is lubricated by a viscid 

 secretion. 



The depth of the body at the base of the pectorals, is three 

 and a half inches ; its greatest depth is four and a half inches ; 

 its depth at the vent is three and a half inches. 



The greatest breadth of the head, across the opercula, is 

 five inches. Its breadth across the eyes, is three and a quar- 

 ter inches. The snout is blunt. The top of the head is flat. 

 The distance between the eyes, is less than two inches. The 

 eyes are circular, one half inch in diameter ; the nostrils are 

 double — the posterior, half of an inch in front of the eyes ; 

 the anterior, which is tubular, and furnished with a cirrus 

 two lines in length, is less than lialf of an inch in front of 

 this. The opercula are nearly two inches in length. 



