2028 Bulletin ^y, United States National Museimt, 



2396. GlLBEBTlJfA SIGOLUTES, Jordan & Starks. 



Head 3; depth 4. D. VIII, 18; A. 14; eye 4i in head; interorbital 

 2i; maxillary 2^; ventrals 2; pectorals 1; caudal 2\\ base of dorsal If 

 in length of body ; base of anal 3. Body rather slender, robust anteri- 

 orly, compressed posteriorly, the greatest breadth and depth at shoulders. 

 Head large, the nape slightly produced ; mouth large and broadly rounded, 

 oblique, the jaws about equal, maxillary extendiug to posterior margin 

 of eye, its end buried under the skin of the cheek ; eyes placed high, the 

 interorbital space very wide and slightly convex, its width about 1^ times 

 that of the eye; the posterior end of mandible very prominent, mandible 

 ri-shaped, its rami approaching each other posteriorly; bones of head 

 eavernous, largely made up of cartilage, the mandible especially so ; an- 

 terior end of preorbital forming a blunt spine over mouth; process of 

 l)remaxillary prominent; a couple of blunt projections behind each eye; 

 upper part of shoulder girdle projecting, forming a blunt spine on nape 

 above gill slit, a row of large pores around suborbital ring, and along 

 under part of mandilde no opercular spines. Head and body covered 

 with a very loose, naked, movaljle skin. Dorsal fin continuous, no notch 

 between spines and soft rays, the spines very slender, the tirst one inserted 

 ovei end of opercular flap; dorsal spines covered by skin, but even the 

 first visible Avith<mt dissection as they rise above the general integument 

 of bodj', the last leaching to base of caudal fin; anal lower than dorsal, 

 its origin midway between base of caudal liu and posterior margin of 

 eye, ending at about the same vertical that dorsal does, Ijut not reaching 

 so far; pectorals long and slender, reaching past front of anal and over 

 halfway between their bases and base of caudal fin, adnate to the 

 body for the anterior third or fourth of their length; ventrals long, not 

 quite reaching to vent, adnate to the body for \ their length; caudal 

 fin rounded. Color, light olivaceous; body and head with innumerable 

 dark points, giving the fish a dusky appearance; large dark blotch across 

 body at the posterior ends of dorsal and anal, a similar spot under pec- 

 toral ; head uniform dusky, lighter below ; belly white ; middle of pectoral 

 dark ; dorsals dark ; lower fins white. Puget .Sound ; known from a single 

 small specimen 1^ inches in length, {diyi), quiet; Xovvrjc,, bather.) 

 Oilbertina slgolutes* Jordan & Stabks, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1895, 811, pi. 86, Point Orchard, 

 near Seattle. (Type, No. 3129, L. S. Jr. Univ. Mus. Coll. Edwiu C. Starks.) 



Note.— Remotely allied to the Cottidce is the Old World family Platycephalidce, charac- 

 terized hy the greatly depressed head and body. Its principal genus is characterized as 



follows : 



» PLATYCEPHALUS, Bloch & Schneider. 



Plafycephalus, Block &. Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 58, 1801 (scaber). 



Head broad, very depressed, more or less armed witli spines ; body depressed anteriorly, 

 subcylindrical posteriorly, covered with ctenoid scales. Lateral line present. Two dor- 

 sal fins, the lirst spine isolated from the others. Ventrals thoracic, but rather remote 

 irom the root of the pectorals; no pectoral appendag<;s. Jaws, vomer, and palatine bones 

 with bands of viUiform teeth. Air bladder none ; pyloric appendages in moderate num- 

 bers. Polynesia and the Australian seas, through all the Indian seas to the eastern coast 

 of Africa. (Giinther.) Two species of this genus have been described from American 

 waters, in both cases apparently by error, as no American ichthyologist has found any 

 specimens of either. (TrAarus, broad; (ce^aA^, head.) 



* Misprinted sigalutet in the orignal description. 



