Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America. 2135 



exceedingly soft, like jelly. Head thick, somewhat depressed, flat on the 

 vertex, and convex between the orbits. Eyes directed upward ; nostrils 

 in middle between margin of mouth and orbit, with a small tubular 

 appendage; a series of pores along upper lip toward gill opening. 

 Lips thick; cleft of mouth directed upward, as in rranoscopus, but with 

 the lower jaw less prominent; jaws, palate, and pharynx rough with 

 teeth; 4 gills on each side; 7 brauchiostegals. Gill opening reduced to 

 a slit above base of pectorals. Pectorals large, very broad, commencing 

 at the throat, the inferior part of their bases being parallel, ascendiug 

 to the gill opening, composed of about 30 rays, the inferior very short 

 and not connected by a membrane. Dorsal and anal fins continuous with 

 the caudal, commencing a little behind middle of body, and composed of 

 feeble rays; jugular disk situated between the jjectorals in front of the 

 vent, very small, soft, supported by a bilamellated cartilage which 

 descends from the throat; vent between pectorals; caudal small, 6-rayed. 

 Eose-colored ; vertical fins violet ; gill cavity black. Steller adds the fol- 

 lowing anatomical details: Ovarium orbicular, containing eggs of the 

 size of a pea. Liver large, divided into 4 lobes, of a whitish color ; gall 

 bladder absent; spleen triangular, browu; stomach 3 times as wide as 

 the (esophagus ; 48 pyloric appendages, 2 inches long and as thick as the 

 wing feather of a pigeon, in a specimen 18 inches long; remainder of 

 intestinal tract about as long as. the fish; urine bladder the size of a 

 hazelnut; kidneys united into one cuneiform mass, commencing near the 

 gills and extending to anterior portion of ovarium; ureter single, verv 

 wide, flexous, becoming narrower before its insertion into the bladder. 

 The nervi opiici and olfactorii have one common ganglion, from which, 

 first, the former arise, emitting the latter from the angle formed by the 

 nerves and the ganglion. Skeleton very slightly osseous. Coast of Kam- 

 chatka. Specimens (1 of 18 inches long) were found by Steller in Peter 

 and Paul Harbor, Kamchatka. (Pallas.) The species has not been recog- 

 nized by recent writers. Not seen by us. (^eZa^/wosHS, jelly-like.) 



Gyclopterus gelatinosus, Pallas, Spicilegia, vil, 19, 1769, Peter and Paul Harbor, Petro- 



paulski Kamchatka. (Coll. Steller.) 

 Liparis gelatinosus, Gunther, Cat., in, 163, 1861. 

 Careproctus gelatinosus, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 740, 1883; Gaeman, Discoboli, in 



Memoir M. C. Z., No. 2, xiv, 76, 1892. 



Subgenus ALLOCHIR, Jordan & Evermann. 



246S. CAREPR01;TU8 MELANURUS, Gilbert. 



Head U to 4| in length; depth 4 J to 4+. D. about .58; A. 50; P. 30. 

 Head heavy, with vertical cheeks, short bluntly rounded snout, and 

 very broad, flat interorbita] space. Width of interorbital space slightly 

 more than ^ length of head. Mouth very broad, horizontal, with short 

 lateral cleft, the maxillary reaching to below middle of eye ; width of 

 mouth equaling length of snout and eye. Teeth short and strong, in nar- 

 row bands in both jaws; except at symphysis, the teeth of the bands are 

 arranged in regular series running from inner edge of jaw forward and 



