NEW OR LITTLE KNOWN FISHES. 217 



freshened into a strong breeze, and were taken in from 

 30 to 35 feet of water. The women followed the plan of 

 rowing along slowly; stopping rowing altogether for a 

 few seconds, and then starting off again slowly. Both fish 

 were taken just as the boat started up, after one of three 

 brief stops, during which the troll had gone down to a 

 greater depth than when the boat was in motion. 



I examined the Beardslees with great care just after 

 the women reached home this afternoon, and have settled 

 these points definitely: The head is densely spotted with 

 round black spots down as far as the mother-of-pearl gill 

 plates, but no further. There are no black spots on 

 these plates. The blue on the back extends down al- 

 most to the median line, and the entire back, from head 

 to tail, and on either side halfway down to the median 

 line, is thickly marked with round black spots which de- 

 crease in size as the tail is approached. The tail itself 

 is densely dotted with round black spots, as are also the 

 back fins. The side and belly fins are not spotted. The 

 black spots on the back are not so prominent as on the 

 smooth surface of the head, owing to the presence of the 

 scales on the back and sides, but they are there in great 

 numbers. 



I noticed this difference between the marking of the 

 one-pound and the ten-pound Beardslee. On the one- 

 pound fish there is a well-defined line of large round 

 dark spots extending the whole length of the body, from 

 a point just back of the gills to the tail fin, and midway 

 between the median line and the bottom of the belly. 

 There are 17 of those spots grading down in size. 

 These spots are not a pronounced black, but show out 

 plainly enough from beneath the whitish silver scales, 

 presenting the dark dull appearance of human flesh 



Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 2d Ser., Vol. VI. ( 15 ) June 20, 1896. 



