FISHES OF NEW YORK 585 



the teeth varying from sharp to very obtuse. This genus is 

 one of the most strongly marked in the family. It has been 

 confounded by all European writers with U m b r i n a , with 

 which it has not very much in common except the presence of 

 the barbel at the chin. All the species are American, and all 

 bottom fishes. The low, elongate body, the large pectorals, and 

 the obsolete air bladder are all characters related to this pecul- 

 iarity of habit. 



Subgenus menticirrhus Gill 



285 Menticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch & Schneider) 



KingfisU; Whiting; Sea Mink 



Johnius saxatilis Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichtb. 75, 1801, New York. 

 Sciena nebidosa Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. .S. Y. I, 408, pi. 3, fig. 5, 



1815. 

 IJmbrina alburnus De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 78, pi. 7, fig. 20, 1842. 

 Umbrina nebulosa Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 275, 1860; Storer, 



Hist. Fish. Mass. 46, pi. IX, fig. 4, 1867. 

 Menticirrhus nebulosus Goode & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. IX, 17, 1879; 



Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 577, 1883. 

 Menticirrhus saxatilis Bean, Bull. U. S. F. C. VII, 141, pis. II, III, figs. 



7 and 8, 1888; Jordan & Eigenmann, Rep. U. S. F. C. for 1886, 431, ' 



1889; Bean, 19th Rep. Comm. Fish. N. Y. 259, pi. XII, fig. 16, 1890; 



Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 368, 1897; H, M. Smith, Bull. U. S. 



F. C. 1897, 101, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



1475, 1898; Bean, 52d Ann. Rep. N. Y. State Mus. 106, 1900. 



Body robust, elongate, its greatest depth about two ninths of 

 total length without caudal; the least depth of caudal peduncle 

 one third length of head. Head one fourth to two sevenths of 

 total length without caudal; snout one fourth as long as the 

 head; eye small, two thirds as long as snout. Mouth large, the 

 maxillary reaching to below middle of eye. Outer teeth of upper 

 jaw not much enlarged. Spinous dorsal elevated, the third spine 

 longest, two thirds as long as the head, reaching slightly past 

 origin of soft dorsal; first spine minute, last two spines very 

 short. Base of soft dorsal one third of total length without 

 caudal; the longest ray less than one third length of head. 

 Caudal concave above, convex below, the middle rays about one 

 half as long as the head. Anal base under the middle portion of 

 the soft dorsal, its length about equal to least depth of caudal 

 peduncle, the spine one third as long as the pectoral, the longest 



