PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 253 



€hal region Las a cross ridge, iu front of which is a quadrate depres- 

 sion. The occiput is armed with a pair of blunt spines, the length of a 

 spiue being two-fifths of the greatest diameter of the eye. At the base 

 of each spine is a blunt protuberance. The preopercle is armed with 

 four spines, the upper of which is the longest, bifurcate, and hooked up- 

 wards; the one next below is slightly bent upward, and the remaining 

 two are directed downward and forward. The suborbital stay is promi- 

 nent. The eye is large, placed next to the upper profile of the head; 

 its greatest diameter is equal to the length of the snout, and is one- 

 fourth of the length of the head. The interorbital area is very narrow 

 and concave, its width being one-fourth of the greatest diameter of the 

 eye. The maxilla extends slightly beyond the vertical through the 

 posterior margin of the eye, and its length is contained 2 times in the 

 length of the head. The teeth are in villiform bauds on the jaws, vo- 

 mer, and palatines. The body is chiefly naked, with a dorsal series of 23 

 bony, scale like plates beginning opposite the sixth dorsal spine and 

 extending upon the upper side of the caudal peduncle ; a second series 

 of 41 similar i:)lates along the lateral line. There are 2 or 3 of these 

 plates on either side of the nape, behind the occipital spines, and a patch 

 of 4 or 5 plates below the lateral line in the pectoral region. 



The spinous dorsal begins over the tip of the opercular flap, and the 

 length of its base is equal to that of the upper jaw. It is composed of 

 9 slender and flexible spines, the longest spine being as long as the 

 distance from the tip of the snout to the orbit. The soft dorsal, of 20 

 rays, begins halfway between the tip of the snout and the base of the 

 caudal fin. Its base is nearly as long as the head, and the longest ray 

 is one-third the length of its base. The origin of the anal fin is under 

 the third dorsal ray; the length of its base is equal to the greatest 

 height of the body, and the longest ray is as long as the longest dorsal 

 spine. The caudal fin is rounded, the middle rays being as long as the 

 maxilla. The length of the i)ectoral base is two-fifths of that of the 

 head, and the longest pectoral ray is equal in length to the greatest 

 height of the body. The ventral fin is composed of 1 spine and 3 rays, 

 its length being two fifths of that of head. 



There are no gill-rakers, but the anterior gill- arch bears 9 or 10 low 

 tubercles. 



Color in spirits, a light olive-brown above ; yellowish below ; belly 

 white. A large dark-brown blotch, marked with white, extends from 

 the base of the spinous dorsal down upon the side to the base of the 

 l)ectoral fin, being darkest just behind the opercular flap. A second 

 similar but narrower blotch on the back from the seventh to the tenth 

 dorsal rays extends obliquely down and forward to below the lateral 

 line. A third faint blotch on the back at the end of the soft dorsal. 

 In addition there are numerous smaller spots and blotches along the 

 lateral line, and a triangular spot on the caudal peduncle at the caudal 

 base. Cheeks brown, marbled, with yellow. Dorsal, caudal, and pec- 



