334 PROCEEiDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.94 



inside of front of mouth; first ray of all fins longest, the pelvics and 

 pectorals lanceolate ; posterior margin of dorsal concave ; intestine coiled. 

 Color. — Pale brownish to brownish with more or less evident bars in 

 front of dorsal fin, then five distinct blackish bars, first through base of 

 dorsal, second under tips of depressed dorsal fin, then three on caudal 

 peduncle; base of caudal fin with a black bar and distal three-fourths 

 of that fin more or less coarsely barred in young, but whole fin evenly 

 dark colored in large specimens ; undersides pale yellowish ; pelvic fins 

 with blackish blotches or pigment in the middle third; pectorals dark 

 in their distal two-thirds ; all the fins are more or less darkish in the large 

 adults; peritoneum pale. 



SPATULORICARIA, new genus 



This new genus of the subfamily Loricarinae is a Loricaria with 

 spoon-shaped teeth (spatula) just as Cochliodon is a Plecostomus with 

 spoon-shaped teeth. However, the teeth of Spatuloricaria are bi- 

 lobed, and each lobe is spoon-shaped, the inner lobe several times 

 larger than the outer lobe, all teeth long and slender except expanded 

 tips; at the rear of the eye, dorsally, is a notch, the supraoccipital ends 

 in an elevated, spiny keel behind, on the side of which is a pair of 

 small, keeled plates, followed by two median plates, each with a pair 

 of keels, the next median plate in front of base of first dorsal spine 

 with a single short keel ; all the plates along the sides with serrated 

 keels; the first five plates in the series behind the posttemporal are 

 keeled, the last two at sides of base of doi-sal fin. The belly is covered 

 with numerous very small platelets, and the young of this species may 

 have naked bellies as in certain species of Loricaria, but the belly of 

 the large adult is plated; sides of head with numerous (about 125) 

 stiff setiform bristles longer than width of interorbital space, these 

 bristles not depressible; upper surface of pectorals also spiny; hps 

 papillate, lower with barbels or dermal lappets along its margin, and 

 upper lip with a series of barbels along its anterior margin but in the 

 form of a double row in front of gape of mouth; barbel at corner of 

 mouth not reaching to gill opening; interorbital space concave; space 

 between nostrils convex; snout bony, no naked area near its tip; rear 

 margin of dorsal fin concave, the first rays longest and that of anal 

 rounded; spine of pelvic fins produced a Kttle beyond the soft rays, the 

 similar spine of pelvics and anal about the same length as next branched 

 ray ; intestme coiled . The upper ray of caudal fin is elongate and about 

 one-third the standard length; the lower ray is long, too, but shorter 

 than the upper ray. 



Named Spatuloricaria in reference to the spoon-shaped teeth that 

 separate it from the only genus, Loricaria, with which it is closely 

 related. 



Genotype. — Spatuloricaria phelpsi, new species. 



