1788 Btilletin //, United States National Museum. 



their distance from the veut equal to \ their own length, which is | length 

 of head. Peritoneum silvery white. In spirits the back is pale rusty 

 brown; the sides below the lateral line paler; belly whitish; traces of 

 dark color on the membrane of the spinous dorsal; soft dorsal, pectorals, 

 ventrals, and anal pale; some traces of bro\yuish on the caudal mem- 

 branes. In S.proriucr the second anal spine is distinctly longer than the 

 third; the peritoneum is black; a tympanic spine is present; the gill 

 rakers 40 in number and many of them club-shaped at the end, the longest 

 rather more than i the length of the eye; the fourth and fifth preopercu- 

 lar spines are directed horizontally backward, and the scales are in 75 

 rows. These comparisons are drawn from the type of S.proru/cr. Length 

 14^ inches. Coast of southeastern Alaska (Bean); not seen by us; known 

 only from the type taken in Hassler Harbor, (hrevis, short ; spinna, spine.) 



Sebastichtlnjs prorigcr \ar. brevisphiiStJiE&S, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 359, Hassler Har- 

 bor, southeastern Alaska. (Type, No. 32004. Coll. Capt. Henry E. Nichols.) 



Sehastodes 2}roriger, Jordan &. Gilbert, Sytiop.sis,* 950, 1883; Alaskan .specimens. 



Sebastichthys brevispinis, Jordan, Cat. Fishes N. Anier., 107, 1885; Be^uj, I'roc. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus. 1894, 627. 



2190. SEBASTODES OVALIS (Ayres). 



(ViuvA; Widow-fish.) 



Head 3 ; depth 2i. D. XIII, 14 ; A. Ill, 8 ; pectoral 3 ! ; height of dorsal 8 ; 

 lateral line about 70. Body deep, almost oval, back considerably elevated, 

 profile steep, lower jaw considerably protruding; mouth not large, max- 

 illary reaching to posterior edge of pupil, its length about 2.V in head; 

 preopercular spines long and slender, all projecting backward; opercular 

 spines strong ; preorbital narrow^, with 2 bluntish spines. Gill rakers very 

 long and slender, longest f diameter of eye. Eye large, slightly longer 

 than snout. Dorsal fin very low, notch between spinous and soft parts 

 very shallow, height of 2 parts about equal (2i in head), the membrane 

 joining last si)ine at about f its height; second anal sjiine longer and 

 stronger than third, almost as high as soft rays, 2^ in head; pectorals 

 long, reaching beyond tips of A'entrals; caudal emarginate; maxilLiry 

 and mandible scaly; bones of skull rather thick, preocular spines strong, 

 supraocular, postocular, tympanic, and parietal spines present, small, and 

 weak, ridges nearly obsolete, except parietal, which is low and weak; 

 parietal bones meeting; interorbital space 3^ in base of skull, slightly 

 convex; ventral pi'ocess of basisphenoid rather weak in young (rudimen- 

 tary in adults) ; mesethmoid processes compressed, rather weak, not ele- 

 vated; base of skull very much curved. Olivaceous, strongly tinged with 

 creamy red, especially below ; membrane of both dorsals covered with 

 many small, round, black s^iots; similar spots usually on body; upper fins 

 greenish, lower yellowish, mostly dark-edged; caudal fin dark; young 

 more green, with 2 or 3 large black blotches on ui)per part of sides, and 



* The .statement in Jordan & Gilbert's Synopsis, p. 950, that Sebastodes proriger has been 

 confounded by Tilesius and Pallas with Sebastodes ciliatus is erroneous. The specimens 

 called by them ciliatus and variabilis include ciliatus and aleutianus. The true proriger is 

 not yet known from Alaska. 



