Jordan arid Evermann. — Fishes of North Ametica. 2443 



distance from snout to front of dorsal; eye 2 in snout, 11 in head. Begin- 

 ning at a short distance beliind origin of dorsal, small, oblong, cycloid 

 scales, closely imbricated, cover a striji of the body along the lateral line; 

 the scaled area gradually ^yidens backward until, behind the vent, only a 

 very narrow strip along bases of dorsal and anal is naked. Dorsal begin- 

 ning over upper angle of gill opening; first si)ine \ as long as the seventy- 

 first or longest; caudal 11 in length; pectoral 3 in head. Brownish 

 yellow; a brown stripe along lateral line, another along back, a third 

 along base of anal. Length 30 inches. Coast of southern Alaska to 

 Puget Sound; not rare about Seattle, (rirgatus, striped.) 



Dclolepis virgatus, Bean, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 466, Kingcombe Inlet, British 

 Columbia; Port Wrangel, Alaska (Coll. Capt. H. E. Nichols. Types, Nos. 29149 

 and 29150, TJ. S. Nat. Mus.) ; Jordan &. Staeks, Fishes Puget Sound, in Proc. Cal.Ac. 

 Sci. 1895, 848. 



923. CRYPTACANTHODES, Storer. 



Cn/ptacanthodes, Storer, Kept. Fish. Mass., 28, 1839 imaculatxis) . 



Body long and slender, compressed, naked, without lateral line; head 

 cuboid, with vertical cheeks and conspicuous muciferous cavities; eyes 

 small, placed high; mouth large, very oblique, the very heavy lower jaw 

 prominent in front; jaws, vomer, and palatines with stoutish conical teeth, 

 in few series. Gill openings prolonged forward below, narrowly attached 

 to the isthmus. Dorsal fin of stoutish spines, hidden in the skin ; dorsal 

 and anal joined to caudal; pectorals short; rentrals wanting, {upvitroi, 

 hidden; dxavficbdrjz, sjiined. ) 



2799. CRTPTACAKTHODES MACULATES, Storer. 

 ( Wry-iiouth ; Ghost-fish.) 



Head6i; depth 13. D. LXXIII; A. 50. Eyes small, placed liigh, not 

 so wide as the interorbital space, which has 2 ridges and 3 pits ; orl)ital 

 rim raised; 2 deep pits behind each eye at the temples; a deeper pit on the 

 top of head between them; a raised ridge continued backward on each side 

 of head behind orbital rim; maxillary extending to beyond eye; pseudo- 

 branchia; small; pectorals short, 3 in head, their tips reaching beyond 

 front of dorsal; vent a little in front of middle of l)ody. Light brownish, 

 with several series of smallish dark spots, arranged in more or less reg- 

 ular rows, from head to base of caudal; vertical fins closely spotted with 

 darker; head above thickly speckled; body sometimes (" inornatus") 

 entirely immaculate. Length 24 inches. Labrador to Long Island Sound; 

 not very common; a few specimens have been taken at Woods Hole. 

 The ghost-fish form {inornatus) occasionally seen, is doubtless an albino. 

 {macniatus, spotted.) 



Cryptacanthodes viaculatus, Storer, Reirt. Fish. Mass., 28, 1839, coast of Massachusetts; 

 Dk Kay, N. T. Fauna : Fishes, 63, pi. 18, fig. 50, 1842; Gunthee, Cat., ni, 291, 1861; Jor- 

 dan <fc Gilbert, Synopsis, 780, 1883. 



Ophidium imberbe, Peck, Amer. Acad., 2d part, 11, 1804, 46, pi. 4, New Hampshire; A. 49; 

 P. 14; C. 22; not of Linn.eus. 



Fieras/er borealis, DeKay, New York Fauna: Fishes, 316, 1842, New York; after Peck. 



Cryptacanthodes inornatus, GiLL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1863, 332, Coast of Massachu- 

 setts; albino form. 



