2850 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



ventral than dorsal outline: ventrals wholly wanting. Dorsal fin begin- 

 ning above gill opening, comjiosed entirely of simple inarticulate rays or 

 spines, these moderately flexible, attached to the membrane to their tips, 

 and all except the first and last of about equal length. Caudal peduncle 

 short and stout, not contracted, the large caudal subtruncate or rounded 

 at tip, and without procurrent rays ; vent nearly median. Anal much 

 shorter than dorsal, somewhat higher, and composed of solt rays, subequal 

 in length. Skeleton rather limp and flexible, but much less so than in 

 Icostexs. 



445(a). ZAPRORA, Jordan. 



Zaprora, JORDAN, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 189G, 202 (silcnus). 



Characters of the genus included above. 



This genus bears some resemblance to leichthys, but differs in the stout 

 caudal peduncle, absence of ventrals and lateral line, and in the form and 

 structure of tlie head. Among the gener.a known to us it seems to come 

 nearest to Icichthyfi, and it might be jilaced among the Ico>itei(la' were it 

 not for the presence of pharyngeal teeth. (Cd, an intensive particle; 

 Ttpchpa, prow.) 



1372(a). ZAPRORA SILENUS, Jordan. 



Head 5| in length to base of caudal; depth 4^. D. LVI; A. 27; P. 20 

 to 22; C. 22; scales about 200-85. Greatest thickness of body about 4 its 

 depth; length of caudal peduncle If in its least depth, which is 1,^0 i" 

 head. Eye 5i in head; snout 5^; interorbital space 3; maxillary 2f, end- 

 ing under front of ])upil; mandible 2i, its depth 4J; teeth about |^ on 

 each side; lips, snout, and bones about eye naked; rest of head covered 

 with small scales. Lower jaw with a thick lip, slightly fringed on its 

 edge, and with a mesial frenum; the rounded tip entering the profile 

 when the mouth is closed. Three large pores on each ramus of mandible; 

 behind these 3 others in a line on horizcmtal limb of preoperdc ; 3 on verti- 

 cal limb ; 2 close together in front of eye ; 1 near the nostrils, so similar to 

 them that there seem to be 3 nasal openings; 7 on suborbitals; 4 in 2 

 rows behiud eye; 1 above eye, and before upper edge of preopercle ; a 

 horizontal row of 5 along temporal region, the last and largest of all in 

 opercular flap above gill opening; 1 at vertex; 1 between vertex and eye, 

 and 2 on each side of nape. Gill rakers 8 + 20, the longest A eye. No 

 trace of lateral line. Scales small, resembling those of a salmon, cover- 

 ing the membranes of all the fins on the basal two-thirds. Pectoral as 

 long as head, its base 2i: in head; longest dorsal spine I'l; ; caudal 1 ,-(,-; 

 longest anal ray 1*. Color in spirits uniform dusky, without markings on 

 the body, the belly pale, and the side of the head irregularly blotched 

 with lemon yellow, apparently brigiit in life, and brightest about the 

 pores of the head. Coast of Uritish Columbia; only the type, 29 inches 

 long, known. {dsiXeroc,, a drunken demigod, covered with slinie, in allusion 

 to the open mucous pores. ) 



Zaprora silenus, Jordan, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sei. 1896, 203, pi. 20, Nanaimo, Vancouver 

 Island. (Type in Provincial Museum at Victoria. Coll. H T. Staintou.) 



