Jordan and Evcrma)in. — Fishes of North America, 1499 



males in spring almost entirely black. Length 6 inches. Pacific Coast, 

 from Fort Wrangel, Alaska to Todos Santos Bay, Lower California; every- 

 where exceedingly abundant in sandy or muddj^ shallows, and about the 

 wharves, {aggregatus, crowded together.) 



Cymatogaster aggregatus. Gibbons, Daily Placer Times and Transcript, May 18, 1854, San 

 Francisco; Gibbons, Proc. Ac. Kat. Sci. Pliila. 1854,106; Eigenmann & Ulrey, I. c, 

 397; Eigenmann, Bull. U. S. Fisli Comm. 1892 (1894), 401. 

 Micrometrus aggregatus, Gibbons, Daily Placer Times and Transcript, May 30, 1854; Gib. 



bons, Proc. Ac. Kat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 125; Jordan & Gilbert, Syuop.sis, 590. 

 Sema signifer, Jordan, Bull. Hayden's Geol. Surv., iv, 399, 1878, Rio Grande, Browns- 

 ville, Texas; an error, the types liiiving really come from San Francisco. 

 Metrogastcr lineolatus (Agassiz ms.), Alexander Agassiz, Proc. Best. Soc. Kat. Hist., 



VIII, 1861, 129, San Francisco. 

 Ditrema aggregatum, GCnther, Cat., iv, 248. 



6oi. BRACHYISTIUS, Gill. 



Brachyistius, GiLL, Proc. Ac. Kat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 275 ijrenatut). 



Body elongate, compressed, with long caudal peduncle and slender 

 pointed snout; mouth very small, with one row of bluntish teeth; lower 

 lip thin, entire, with a frenum; gill rakers rather slender. Pharyngeals 

 essentially as in Cymatogaster. Scales large. Vertical tins very short. 

 Small carnivorous species, living on sandy shores, {fipaxvi, short ; idtiov, 

 sail, or dorsal fin.) 



1883. BRACHYISTIUS FREXATUS, Gill. 



Head 3f ; depth 3. D. VIII, 15; A. Ill, 22; lateral line 40. Body elon- 

 gate, compressed, regularly elliptical, with a slender pointed head and a 

 long caudal peduncle; profile much depressed over the eyes, the snout 

 projecting. Mouth very small, oblique, maxillary not reaching orbit. 

 Cheeks with 2 rows of scales. Dorsal spines very long and rather 

 strong, the sixth and seventh the longest and a little longer than the soft 

 rays. Caudal rather deeply forked. Gill rakers slender, rather long. 

 Color dark olive brown above, each scale with a dark spot at base, followed 

 by a light mark; below bright light coppery red; each scale with a blue 

 spot and dark puuctulations; liead colored like the body; fins all light 

 reddish. Length 8 inches. Vancouver Island to Gaudalupe ; locally very 

 abundant, especially northward in shallow water, (frenatiis, bridled.) 

 Brachyistius frenatus, Gill, Proc. Ac. Kat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 275, California coast. 

 Ditrema brevipinne, Gunther, Cat., IV, 248, 1862, Esquimault Harbor, Vancouver Island. 

 Micrometrus frenatua, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 589, 1883. 



6o2. ZALEMBIUS, Jordan & Evermann. 



Zalemhius, Jordan & Evermann, CheckLi.st, 403, 1890 (rosaceua). 



This genus agrees in most respects with Brachyistius, but the body and 

 head are deep and compressed, the caudal peduncle short, and the vertical 

 fins are longer than in Brachyistius. The single species inhabits waters of 

 considerable depth, 50 fathoms or more, being the only member of the 

 family not confined to the shores, most of them living in the surf in very 

 shallow watcBS. {ZdAij, surges of the^ea; E/u/3ioi, life within, the root 

 word of Embiotoca.) 



