2290 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



of the dorsal fin. (Named for Mr. Eichard Eathbuu, then chief of the 

 Division of Scientific Inquiry in the U. S. Fish Commission, iu recognition 

 of his many services to science.) 



2r.2S. RATHIJUNELLA HYPOPLECTA (Gill)eit). 



Head 4f in length ; depth 7. D. 46 ; A. 33. Head and body compressed, 

 elongate, the anterior profile of head compressed, declivous; mouth some- 

 what oblique, at lower side of snout, small, the maxillary reaching vertical 

 from middle of pupil, 3-J in head; snout very slightly shorter than orbit, 

 4^ in head; diameter of orbit 4 in head; teeth well developed, iu broad 

 bands on jaws, vomer and paLitines, the vomer and palatine patches 

 nearly continuous ; branchiostegal membranes broadly united, free from 

 isthmus, forming a fold whose depth exceeds \ diameter of orbit. Margin 

 of preoiiercle adnate behind, slightly free below, furnished with a series 

 of 6 couspicuous mucous pores; head without sjiines, ridges or filaments; 

 inner margin of shoulder girdle conspicuously notched above and below, 

 but without hook; gill rakers tubercular, few in number; a well-marked 

 slit Ijchind last gill. Distance from nape to front of dorsal fin equals its 

 distance from posterior border of eye; anterior 10 or 12 doisal rays simple 

 and apparently not articulate, but flexible and not spine-like; distance 

 from front of anal to base of ventrals 2^ in its distance from base of 

 caudal, all but first \ of dorsal rays, and all of anal rays forked at tip ; 

 dorsal not high, the longest rays \ head ; highest anal ray equals snout 

 and \ eye ; last dorsal and anal rays entirely disconnected from caudal, 

 leaving a free space on caudal peduncle \ diameter of orbit ; ventrals I, .5, 

 in advance of base of pectorals, narrowly triangular, the inner rays long- 

 est; pectorals with curved base running backward and downward, the 

 rays all branched, 18 in number, the width of base of fin 3^ in head, the 

 longest ray 1^ in head; caudal rounded, f length of head. Body covered 

 with small, partially embedded, cycloid scales, including antedorsal 

 region, belly, breast, and area in front of base of pectorals; cheeks cov- 

 ered with similar but smaller scales, the oi^ercles and rest of head naked. 

 Lateral line running high, parallel with back, on a series of enlarged 

 scales, wliich are also partly embedded in the thick skin; the lateral line 

 fiiils to reach base of caudal by a distance equaling \ of head, and is pres- 

 ent on 82 scales. Color, dark olive-brown above, lighter below ; a series 

 of about 12 quadrate dark blotches below lateral line, connected more or 

 less by dusky streaks with an alternating series along base of dor-sal ; no 

 bright colors; dorsal, pectorals, ventrals and branchiostegal membranes 

 dusky straw color; anal black, the rays white tipped; caudal blackish; 

 peritoneum white. A single specimen, 8 inches long, from Albatross Sta- 

 tion 2944, oft' Santa Barbara Islands, in 30 fathoms. 



Jiatluiiiiaster hyyopleetus, Gilbert, Proe. TT. S. Nat. Mns. 1890, 97, off Santa Barbara Isl- 

 ands, California, at Albatross Station 2944. (Coll. Albatross.) 



