2612 BiiUctin ^7, United States National Museum. 



flattisli area; lower ejc slightly advanced; mouth large, the maxillary 

 reaching middle of orbit. Nearly uniform dark brown; blind side white. 

 One of our most important food-fishes, reaching a weight sometimes of 400 

 pounds. Found in all northern i^eas, southward in deep water to France, 

 Sandy Hook, and occasionally to the Farallones off San Francisco; abun- 

 dant throughout the North Atlantic as also the North Pacific and Bering 

 Sea, in water of moderate depth; taken with hook and line on all cod 

 banks. 



Fleuronectes hippoglossus, Linn^us, Systema NatnriB, Ed. x, 269, 1758, European Ocean. 

 Hippoglossiis vulgaris, FLEMING, British Animals, 197, 1828; Gunther, Cat., iv, 403, 1862; 

 DAr, Fishes Great Britain, n, 5, pi. 44; Stoker, Fish. Mass., 145, 1839; De Kay, 

 New York Fauna: Fishes, pi. 49, f. 157, 294, 1842; Storer, Synopsis Fish. N. A., 475, 

 1847; LocKiNGTON, Rep. Com. Fisheries California, 39, 1878-79; Lockington, Proc. 

 V. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 71 ; Bean, Proc. TJ. S. Xat, Mus. 1879, 63 ; Jordan &. Gilbert, 

 Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 454 ; Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 471 ; Jordan &. Gil- 

 bert, Proc. IT. S.Nat. Mus. 1881, 66; BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 242 ; Jordan & 

 Gilbert, Synopsis, 819, 1883; Bean, Cat. Col. Fi.sh. 17. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 20; Dresel, 

 Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1884, 244 ; GooDE, Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim., 189, pi. 54, 1884 ; and 

 of American writers generally. 

 Hippoglossus maximus, Gottsche, Archiv fur Naturgesch. 1835, 164, no locality. 

 Hipjioglossus gigas, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class'n Anim., ii, 302, 1839, no locality. 

 Hippoglossus poiiticus, Bonaparte, Cat.ilogo Metodico, 47, 1846, Black Sea; after Pallas. 

 Hippoglossus americanus, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1864, 220. 



Hippoglossus hip2'oglossns, Jordan, Cat. Fish. N. A., 133, 1885; Jordan & Goss, Kcview 

 Flounders and Soles, 237, pi. 3, 1889. 



ioi6. LYOPSETTA, Jordan & Goss. 



Lyopsetta, Jordan & Goss, in Jordan, Cat. Fish. N. A., 135, 1885 (exilix). 



Teeth sharp, those of the lower jaw uniserial, the upper jaw biserial; 

 lateral line simjile (without accessory dorsal branch) and without distinct 

 anterior arch. Scales comparatively large, thin, ciliated, and deciduous; 

 body dextral; anal spine usually strong; vertebrae about 4,5; body slender, 

 the ilesh soft ; dorsal fin beginning above eye. This genus contains but 

 a single species, a small, soft-bodied flounder, of the waters of the North 

 Pacific. In its technical characters Lyopsetta is very close to Hippogloasoidcs, 

 but the species has the soft flesh of Aihcresihes, {Xvoo, to loosen; ipT/Tza, 

 flounder. ) 



297S. LYOPSETTA EXILIS (Jordan &. Gilbert). 



Head 4; depth 3i. D.78; A. 62; Y.6; scales lG-71-18. Body slender, 

 compressed, the flesh soft; caudal peduncle slender; mouth not large, 

 very oblique, the gape curved; lower jaw scarcely projecting, with a 

 knob at symphysis; maxillary rather narrow, reaching middle of pupil, 

 2f in length of head; teeth small, slender, close set, nearly uniform; 

 above in 2 series, below in 1. Eyes large, separated by a sharp, scaly 

 ridge; lower eye advanced. Scales compar.atively large, thin and decid- 

 uous, ctenoid, but not so rough as in the other species, those on blind 

 side similar, less rough. Lateral line prominent, rising anteriorly, with- 

 out trace of arch. Fins low, fr.ngile; anal preceded by a spine; caudal 

 fin long, rather pointed; pectorals small, the right pectoral little more 



