1910.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 477 



anal origins; 12 predorsal scales; head width If its length; head 

 depth at occiput 1£; snout 4^; eye 2f ; maxillary 3^; interorbital 

 2h; first branched dorsal ray 1£; first branched anal ray 1£; least 

 depth of caudal peduncle 2; pectoral If; ventral If. 



Body well compressed, deep, contour ovoid, edges convexly rounded, 

 and greatest depth about ventral origin. Caudal peduncle com- 

 pressed, least depth about 1^ its length. 



Head small, compressed, deep, flattened sides but slightly convergent 

 below, and lower profile a little more inclined than upper. Snout 

 short, convex over surface and end, projecting beyond mandible, 

 and length about f its width. Eye large, circular, scarcely elevated, 

 and center about first § in head. Mouth small, inferior, well inclined. 

 Premaxillaries protractile down and forward. Lips rather thin, 

 firm, moderate. Maxillary small, well inclined, more or less con- 

 cealed, to hind no. of nl or scarcely to eye. Mandible depressed, small, 

 included in upper jaw when closed, and rami well elevated inside 

 mouth. Tongue obsolete, apparently adnate, fleshy, and scarcely 

 differentiated from floor of mouth. Jaw edges firm, slightly tren- 

 chant. Nostrils large, together, anterior circular with rather broad 

 posterior cutaneous margin exposing posterior in narrow crescent. 

 Interorbital broadly and evenly convex. Preorbital small, trapezoidal, 

 length If in eye. Postorbital width much less than infraorbital, latter 

 about 3 in eye. Posterior preopercle margin convex, nearly vertical 

 above. 



Gill-opening forward to hind preopercle margin, or about last f 

 in head. Rakers about 2 + 8? short weak fleshy points, much less 

 than filaments, and latter about f of eye. Pseudobranchise a little 

 shorter than filaments. Teeth 5-5, compressed, pointed, with slight 

 grinding surfaces with entire edges. 



Scales large, narrowly imbricated on sides of body, disposed in even 

 longitudinal series, and but slightly smaller on edges of body and 

 breast. Axillary scale short, rounded, not pointed. L. 1. consisting 

 of only 5 short tubes at shoulder, each extending over first half of 

 scale exposure and in a straight series. 



Dorsal origin about midway between snout tip and caudal base, 

 third simple ray longest, though first branched subequal, depressed 

 fin 1^ to caudal base. Anal inserted about opposite first third of 

 dorsal base, fin similar, depressed 1^ to caudal base. Caudal forked, 

 a little longer than head, lobes pointed, equal. Pectoral a little beyond 

 ventral, upper rays longest. Ventral inserted a little before dorsal, 

 to anal. Vent midway in post ventral. 



