2730 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



small, above and behind the axils of the pectoral fins. Body and head 

 covered with bony tubercles or spines. Spinous dorsal reduced to a small 

 rostral tentacle, which is retractile into a cavity under a prominent proc- 

 ess on the forehead; in 1 genus the rostral tentacle is obsolete; soft 

 dorsal and anal fins small and short; ventrals well developed; pectoral 

 fin well developed, its base strongly angled, with long pseudobrachia 

 and 3 actinosts. Branchiostegals 5 ; no pseudobranchiiB. Genera 8; spe- 

 cies about 30, chiefly American, some of them in the deep sea. (Pediculati, 

 part; genera Malthe and Halieutaa, Giinthor, iii, 200-205, 1861.) 



OgCOCEPHALIN^ : 



a. Disk with the frontal region elevated and the snont more or less produred forward, 



the tail stout; orbits lateral; teeth on vomer and palatines; rostral tentacle 



present. 



h. Gills 2i; disk longer than broad. Ogcocephaltjs, 1072. 



hh. Gills 2J ; disk broader than long. Zalieutes, 1073. 



HaLTEUTIN^E: 



aa. Disk with the frontal region depressed, not elevated above the rest; eyes partly 

 superior ; snout rounded, obtuse in front ; tail slender, 

 c. Dorsal fin present. 



d. Vomer and palatines with teeth. Halieutichthys, 1074. 



del. Vomer and palatines toothless, 

 e. Disk subcircular; gills 2i. 



/. Mouth rather lai-ge, subvertical; prickles rather strong. 



Halieutaa, 1075. 

 ff. Mouth rather small, terminal ; prickles feeble. 



Halieutella, 1076. 

 ee. Di.sk subtriangular ; gills 2 ; prickles very strong. 



DiBRANCHCS, 1077. 



1072. OGCOCEPHALUS, Fischer. 



(Sea-Bats.) 



Ogcocephaliis, Fischer, Zoognosia, 78, 1813 (vespertilio). 

 Oncoccphalus, GiLL, modified spelling. 



Malthe, Cuyier, R6gne Animal, Ed. i, n, 311, 1817 (vespertilio). 

 Malthma, corrected spelling. 



Body stoutish, tapering l)ackward; head very broad and depressed, tri- 

 angular in form, the forehead elevated and produced. Eyes large, lateral. 

 Mouth rather small, subinferior tinder the snout ; villiform teeth in bands, 

 on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Skin covered with rough, bony tubercles. 

 Dorsal and anal fins verj^ small; rostral tentacle present, retractile into a 

 cavity under a bony prominence on the forehead; ventrals present, 1,5, 

 well separated; pectorals large, jilaced horizontally. Gills 2^. No air 

 bladder; no pyloric ciieca. Tropical America, in shallow Avater; small 

 fishes of singular form, often regarded by the ignorant as venomous. 

 {oyHO(r, hook; He(*>aXy, head; properly written Oncocephahis, but Fischer 

 chose the aboA^e monstrous spelling.) 



a. Snout produced, the rostriil process pointed, 6 to 10 in length of body. 



vespertilio, 3119. 



aa. Snout short, the rostr.al process 12 to 15 times in length of body. nasutus, 3120. 



aaa. Snout short, the rostral tubercle reduced to a button-like tubercle, which is about 



25 times in length of body. radiatus, 3121. 



