Jordan and Everniann. — Fishes of N'orth America. 1397 



aa'. Air bladder none ; anal spine single, weak : back not elevated ; 

 preopercle with its membranaceous edge crenulate; pec- 

 toral fins long, longer than ventrals. (Bottom fishes.) 



Menticirrhus, 591. 

 WW. PsendobranchiiB obsolete ; body long and low ; caudal pointed ; pectoral 

 fin elongate; preopercle without bony serratures. 

 h'. Mandible with a row of slender barbels along its inner edge ; chin with- 

 out large barbels. Paralonchurus, 592. 

 fcb'. Mandible without barbels along the inner edge. Chin with two short 

 barbels ; soft dorsa 1 with 30 to 40 rays. Lonchiukus, 593. 



ApLODINOTIN.'E : 



gg. Lower pharyngeals very large, completely united, covered with coarse blunt paved 

 teeth ; lower jaw included ; snout with slits and pores, as in Scicena; gill rakers 

 rather short. 



c'. Lower jaw with numerous barbels along the inner edge of the 

 rami; preopercle nearly entire. (Marine species.) 



POGONIAS, 594. 

 cc'. Lowerjaw without barbels; preopercle slightly serrate. (Fresh- 

 water species.) Aplodinotus. 595. 

 Equitin^ : 



ff. Dorsal spines close together, the first spine attached to tlie first interneural, and 

 from 5 to 12 of the spine-bearing interneurals wedged in between the high 

 occipital crest and the neural spine of the second vertebra on tlie one hand, and 

 that of the third vertebra on the other ; occipital crest mucl^ elevated. Month 

 small, low, included ; the teeth subequal, in villiform bauds ; air bladder sim- 

 ple; preopercle with its membranaceous edge serrulate; gill rakers short; snout 

 above premaxillary with slit and pores essentially as in Scicena,- anal fin small; 

 soft dorsal very long, of 36 to 55 rays ; vertebrae 10 + 15 = 25. Eques, 596. 



569. SERIPHUS, Ayres. 



Serii)hxis, Ayres, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., 11, 1861, 80 (politus). 



Body olilong, compressed, covered with rather Large, deciduous, ctenoid 

 scales. Head deep, compressed, carinated behind, depressed above the 

 eye; snout bluntish, lower jaw projecting; month large, oblique. Teeth 

 small, sharp, separated, in narrow bands. Gill rakers long; pseudo- 

 branehi;e present; preopercle with its membranaceous edge denticulated. 

 Fins fragile, the soft parts scaly; dorsal tins well apart, the second 

 unusually small, shorter than the anal, which is unusually large; anal 

 spines 2, feeble; caudal tin lunate. Vertebne 14 + 10, as in OtolUhus and 

 Ci/iioscion. Size small. One species in the eastern Pacific. ((j£Vj/<poc, an 

 is'aud in the Grecian Archipelago; a small winged insect; also a kind of 

 wormwood; the allusion in any case not evident.) 



1770. SKRIPHUS POLITUS, Ayres. 



(Qleenfish; White Croaker.) 



HeadSJ; depth 4; eye large, 4^ in head; snout projecting, 3^ in head. 

 D. VIII-I, 20; A. II, 21 or 22; scales 8-65-9. Body moderately elongate, 

 compressed; profile slightly depressed over the eyes; mouth large and 

 narrow, the lowerjaw more or less projecting in the adult; premaxillary 

 anteriorly about on the level of the lower margin of the pupil ; maxillary 



