2354 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



871. NEOCLINUS, Girard. 



Neoclinus, Girard, U. S. Pac. R. R. Snrv., x, Fish., 114, 1858 (hlanehardi). 

 Pterognathus* Giraed, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 1859, 57 (satiricus). 



Body compressed, rather elongate, covered -with minute cycloid scales; 

 lateral line present, incomplete, higli anteriorly ; head naked, the cheeks 

 tumid; upper jaw protractile; maxillary greatly produced backward, 

 more than f length of head, reaching far beyond the eye; both jaws, 

 vomer, and palatines with stout, unequal, conical teeth in a single series, 

 besides which, iu the front of the jaws, are smaller teeth ; nasal and supra- 

 ocular region with fringed tentacles; gill membranes broadly united, free 

 from the isthmus; gill rakers weak. Dorsal fin long, scarcely emargi- 

 nate, its anterior | composed of slender, flexible spines, which are similar 

 to the soft rays, all of which are simple; anal long, its rays all simple; 

 ventrals moderate, I, 3; caudal tin distinct; pectoraLs rather broad, 

 rounded; no air bladder; no pyloric cseca. Pacific coast, in shallow 

 water; remarkable for the great development of the maxillary, as in 

 Opisthognathus and Gillichthys. (re'oj, new; w/l2>oj, Clinus.) 



NEOCLINUS : 



a. Maxillary long, but not reaching beyond head; membrane of jaws white, 



BLAXCHARDI, 2691. 



Pterognathus (nTepov, wing; yva.6o?, jaw) : 

 aa. Maxillary inordinately developed, reaching gill opening in the adult; maxillary 

 Hap blackish, edged with bright yellow. SATIEICLS, 2692. 



Subgenus NEOCLINUS. 



2691. NEOCLINUS BLAXCHARDI, Girard. 



Head 4 ; depth 5| . D. XXIV, 17 ; A. II, 30 ; eye 5 in head ; maxillary vari- 

 able, about li ; pectoral 2 ; caudal If to 2. Upper profile of head convex, 

 snout rather steep; jaws subequal; teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines, 

 subequal, cauine-like ; eye set high in head, equal to length of snout. Males 

 with a long thick cirrus over front of middle of eye, twice as long as eye, 

 its end multifid, 3 or 4 short, slender ones behind it over posterior half of 

 eye; females with a much smaller cirrus in front, seldom as long as eye, 

 the posterior ones similar to those of male ; both with a multifid flap at 

 anterior nostril ; maxillary never reaching jiast preopercle (in specimens 

 from 6 to 8 inches in length), not longer in males than in females. Head 

 naked; scales on body very small, somewhat embedded; no scales on fins; 

 origin of dorsal directly behind occiput, no notch between spinotis and 

 soft dorsals ; the tips of last dorsal and anal rays reaching to base of cau- 

 dal fin ; pectorals broad, scarcely reaching to vent ; about .} the length of 

 ventrals in front of base of pectoral. Color varying from dark red or 



* " It is more than probable that had we been acquainted with this second species of 

 Neoclinus fir.st, we would have been misled as to its real generical characters, and framed 

 a name in allusion to the condition of the upper jaw, such as Pterognathus, for example, 

 which would have been most characteristic, for that upper jaw is as truly winged as the 

 upper members of the liyiug snuirrels. We can not help thinking that Cuvier himself 

 would not have coined the name of Opisthognnthtis had he had before him the .species which 

 bears his name instead of that which lie dedicated to Sonnorat. These two genera (Opis- 

 thognathus and NeeocUnns) will furnish one of the best themes to ichthyological studies, 

 as they exemplify the fact that specific characters may be developed to exaggeration, and 

 become more conspicuous than the generic cliaracters'tliemselves." (Girard.) 



