2824 • Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museiini. 



Scales small, deciduous, those on back still smaller; lateral line distinct, 

 fiill rakers long and slender, al)out 12 below angle of arch, longest about 

 as long as eye. Tongue with moderate teeth, the anterior 2 to 4 small 

 hooked canines; ux)per jaw with small sharp teeth similar to those in 

 lower jaw, none of them canine-like; small teeth on palatines and ptery- 

 goids; vomer with 2 very small canines scarcely fang-like. Color blu- 

 ish above with bright rellections ; scales margined with dark points ; sides 

 silvery with golden and coppery luster; inside of gill openings dusky; 

 lins white, somewhat dotted. About Kadiak Island, Alaska. Two speci- 

 mens caught in the upward haul of a dredge in 8helikof .Straits, north of 

 Karluli, Kadiak Island, Alaska, at Allxitross Station No. 3675. The deptli 

 of the dredge haul was 109 fathoms, but these fishes were no doubt taken 

 from near the surface. One specimen is 8, the other about 7 inches in 

 length. The sjjecies is allied to Osmeras dentex, the Rainbow Smelt, but 

 differs in the extremelj" long anal and in the very weak vomerine and 

 lingual canines. The ficsh is firm, as in 0. dentex. (Named for the 

 U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross.) 



Osmerus albatrossis, Jokdan & Gilbert, Kept. Fur. Seal luvest., MS. 1898, Shelikof 

 Straits, north of Karluk, Alaska. 



Mesopus should replace Ilypomesus. It is originally characterized on 

 page 14 (not 1()8) I'roc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, Hypomesus on page 15. 

 The ventrals are inserted below front of dorsal in Me-'^ojnis as in allied 

 genera, and there are 8 branchiostegals as in allied groups. The feebhs 

 teeth distinguish Mesopus from Osmerus. The statement that the stomach 

 is ciecal in ArgenUnidw is true of a few genera only, and the character has 

 no high systematic value. In Mesopus pretios»s and Osmerus dentex, the 

 stomach is siphonal, as in Salmonidw. In Thaleichthys pacijicus, however, 

 the stomach forms a blind sac. The small number of pyloric ca-ca and 

 the i)eculiar structure of the ovaries remain to define Aryentinidw as a 

 family distinct from SaJmonidd'. 



Page 525. To the synonymy of Ilypomesus olidus add: 



Osmerus oligodon, Kner. 



The species ranges south to Amur River. 



Page 530. After Uatltylagus 2)aciji(iis iidO.: 



S04(a). BATHYLAGliS BOREALIS, Gilbert. 



Head 4r2 to base of caudal; depth 5j; eye 2^ in head; snout 2f in eye. 

 D. 8; A. 19; ventral 8; pectoral 8. Scales in about 40 rows, judging from 

 the scars; head scaleless. Interorbital width grooved, the groove widen- 

 ing ])ostcriorly, oi)ening onto the fiat occipital region, which is not 

 swollen. Width of cartilaginous portion of interorbital space -^ orbit; 

 including the thin membranaceous plates which overarch the orbits, the 

 interorbital width is f orbit. The anterior profile of snout declines gently, 

 bringing the mesial poition of premaxillaries on a level with lower margin 

 of pupil. Distance from tip of snout to end of maxillaiy slightly exceed- 

 ing length of snout, 2t in orbit. Opercle with 2 strong ridges diverging 

 downward and backward from behind the eye. Front of dorsal midway 



