JoTdan and Evcrmann. — Fishes of North America. 2309 



2645. ASTKOSCOPCS ZEPHYREUS, Gilbert & Starks. 



Head, without lo-n-cr jaw, 2|; depth 3j. D. V, 13; A. 14; scales 84; oye 

 12 iu head ; maxillary 2\\ pectoral 1^; second do'*saI spine 7; highest dor- 

 sal ray24; highest anal ray 3^; caudal If. Body robust, widest at occi- 

 put, slightly compressed posteriorly; anteriorly subcylindrical. Head 

 very large and liroad, wider than the body; mouth large, vertieal, a fringe 

 of barbels curving over mouth on each jaw; length a little greater than 

 the diameter of th(^ eyc^; tongue very large and lleshy, forming a. pad 

 under the membrane of lower jaw, which projects forward somewhat; 

 teeth conical, small and movable, in many bands in upper jaw; in lower 

 jaw the teeth are larger and iu 2 or 3 rows; vomer and palatines with 

 teeth; eyes very small but prominent, set on top of head; interorbital 

 very wide, 4 times as wide as the eye; bones on top of head coarsely 

 granular; Y-shajied ridge on top of head conspicuous, on each side of 

 which is a broad naked area, the form of these and other bones of the 

 head exactly as in -4. y-grcvcuin; edges of nostrils closely fringed, anterior 

 nostril round, the ridge between it and eye not very high or conspicuous; 

 posterior nostril ending in a long curved furrow which runs obliquely 

 across the naked area behind eyes; at its posterior end it turns sharply 

 forward, its length 2J times the diameter of the eye; 2 very short blunt 

 spines in front of the eye; surface of the opercle, preopercle, and humeral 

 process granular, not so rough as in Astroscopus y-grwcum; gill rakers not 

 developed ; pseudobranchia' very small. Head entirely scaleless ; belly 

 naked below a line drawn from first anal ray to the middle of the ijectoral 

 base; fins without scales; scales small and nearly square, grown together 

 side by side, forming series of oblique plates. Width of pectoral at base 

 slightly less than I length of head, the lower rays very short and gradu- 

 ated to the long upper rays, the fin pointed and slightly turned up, 

 its tip reachiug to the vertical from base of the third dorsal ray; the ven- 

 tral rays thick and swollen, the inner rays the longest, its tip reaching 

 about midway between its base and tips of pectorals; origin of fin in 

 front of pectorals a distance etinal to the width of pectoral base; soft dor- 

 sal somewhat higher than anal, its posterior rays reaching to the vertical 

 from base of last anal ray; tip of last anal ray nearly reaching to the 

 base of caudal rays; caudal truncate or slightly rounded; a fold of skin 

 along middle line of belly from ventrals to vent. Color dark brown 

 above, paler below; upper parts with many round white spots of varions 

 sizes, edged with rings of dark brown; spinous dorsal black, light jios- 

 teriorly; soft dorsal light at base, the ends of the rays with black and 

 white stripes; pectoral and anal dusky with light edge; caudal with 

 longitudinal black and white strijies. Pacific coast of Mexico. One speci- 

 men, numbered 333, in the Leland Stanford Junior University Museum, 

 collected by the Albatross at Magdalena Bay, Lower California. It is 12 

 inches in leugth. A distinct electric shock Avas given by this fish when 

 alive, the electric organs being in the fleshy areas on top of head behind 



