2316 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



size backward, those on vomer prominent; a broad iiap above orbit; tip 

 of maxillary and lower side of mandible with consplcnous cirri; a series 

 of smaller cirri along margin of preopercle; subopercle ending iu a long, 

 sharp spine; orbit about equaling interorbital width or length of snout; 

 pectoral with a large foramen in the axil. Dusky olive, with black mark- 

 ings continent on the sides and forming irregular, indistinct bars; belly 

 and under side of head lighter; sides often with many pale yellow or 

 whitish spots; soft dorsal with 6 to 9 oblique light l>ands; anal with 5 to 

 9; caudal and pectoral tins with 5 to 7 light cross bands, these formed 

 chiefly from light spots ; ventrals with some dark markings. In specimens 

 from shallow water or alga', the brown becomes nearly l)lack and more 

 extended, the belly and chin spotted with darker, and top of the head has 

 no distinct markings. The deeper-water specimens are lighter in color- 

 ation than those from near the surface, and those from the coral reefs 

 (var. heta, Goode & Bean) are paler than those from the green alga^ and sea 

 wrack ; otherwise no differences seem to exist. In young individuals the 

 head is more narrow and rounded, and the lower branch of the subopercu- 

 lar spine proportionally larger than in the adult. Cape Cod to Cuba ; very 

 abundant among rocks and weeds close to the shore northward, in deeper 

 water southward; the young clinging to rocks by a ventral sucking disk, 

 which is soon lost. Length 15 inches. Not valued as food, (taxi, T, the 

 bones on the head when dried showing a T-shaped figure.) 



Oadus tail, LinNvEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. xn, 440, 1766, Carolina. (Coll. Dr. Garden.) 



Oo^M* g'^ofter, ScHiJPF, Schrift. Naturf. Freunde, vm, 1788, 146, Long Island; D. 25; V. 3; 



A. 21 ; .short cirri below mouth. 

 Gottus chcetodon, Bloch & S(;hneider, Syst. Ichth., 62, 1801, New York : after Schopf. 

 Lophius bufo, MiTCHiLL, Traus. Lit. and Phil. Soc. 1815, 463, New York. 

 Opsanus cerapalus, Rafixesquk, Amer. Monthly Mag., Jan., 1817, 204, south coast of 



Long Island. (Coll. C. S. Eatinesque.) 

 Balrachoidcs vcrnuUas, Le Sdeue, M6m. Mus., V, 1819, 157, pi. 17, coast of Rhode Island. 

 Batrachoidcs urtncgraf?*.?, Le Sueue, Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., in, 1823, 399 and 401, Egg 



Harbor, New Jersey. 

 Batrachus celatui^, De Kay, "New York Fauna : Fishes, 170, pi. 50, f. 161, 1842, New York. 

 Batrachus tan beta. Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 236, Gulf of Mexico. 

 Oottusglaber, Walbaum, Artedi Piscum, ni, 392, 1792: after Schopf. 

 Batrachus tau, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xn, 478, 1837; De Kay, N. T. 



Fauna : Fishes, 168, pi. 28, flg. 26, 1842; GiJNTHER, Cat., ni, 167, 1861 ; Jordan & Gilbert, 



Synopsis, 751, 1883 ; Meek & Hall, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1885, 59. 

 Batrachus variegatus, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xn, 484, 1837. 



2652, OPSANUS PAROUS (Goode & Bean). 



(Sapo.) 



Head to end of opercular spine 3 ; depth 4. D. III-26 ; A. 22 ; maxillary 1| 

 in head ; pectoral 2^ ; ventral 2 ; highest dorsal ray 2g ; highest anal ray 3^ ; 

 caudal 2. Body short and robust, compressed posteriorly; head large, 

 somewhat depressed, wider than the body ; eyes jjlaced high, not so wide 

 as the slightly concave interorbital space; mouth large, the maxillary 

 reaching far beyond the eye, the lower jaw slightly projecting; a double 

 row of small blunt teeth in upper jaw, not running very far back at the 

 sides; lower jaw with a single row of much larger pebble-like teeth run- 

 ning well back and biting against a single row of similar teeth on pala- 



