Jordan and Evermaim. — Fishes of North America. 



1903 



2284. ARTEDIi:S ASPERULUS, Starks. 



Head 2f ; depth 4. D. IX-16; A. 12; eye 1 in head; maxillary 2^; 

 suout 4. Profile of head broadly rounded from tip of snout to oceiput, the 

 snout very steep ; lower outline of head nearly horizontal, mouth at lower 

 aspect of head little, if any, oblique ; maxillary reaching to below middle 

 of eye; villiform teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; nasal spines promi- 

 nent, preopercular process short, bifurcate, the entire spine covered with 

 skin, 3 small spines developed on edge of preopercle below it ; top of head 

 naked, with many mucous pores; interorbital space narrow, concave, its 

 width about i eye; a wide baud of strongly ctenoid scales along back, 

 starting opposite front of spinous dorsal, and below it a distance equal to 

 pupil, gradually running upward and nearly touching the base of soft 

 dorsal, joining its fellow of the opposite side behind dorsal, and con- 

 tinuing on caudal peduncle to midway between last ray of dorsal and 

 base of caudal ; at its widest part, under front of soft dorsal, it is 9 scales 

 wide in an oblique series; 33 oblique series in its length; lateral line 

 armed with 35 ctenoid scales in a single series ; all the scales embedded on 

 their lower anterior edges and ctenoid on their upper posterior edges ; 

 naked area between lateral line and band of scales, at its widest part 

 narrower than l)and of scales ; spinous dorsal rounded in outline, not 

 joined to soft dorsal; pectoral reaching to base of seventh or eighth ray of 

 soft dorsal ; vcntrals reaching vent. Color olive brown, with 4 or 5 dark 

 irregular cross bars on back, which break up and form reticulations 

 around white spots on sides, the lower of these 8i)ots forming semicircles 

 only where they run into the white of the belly, the first cross bar under 

 front of spinous dorsal, the second under front of soft dorsal, the third 

 under posterior third of soft dorsal, and the fourth indicated by a blotch 

 on caudal peduncle; a dark streak at base of caudal fin; under parts 

 white ; ventrals and anal white, other fins crossed with undulating lines ; 

 lips dusky. This species diflfers from Artedius lateralis, with which it 

 seems to be most closely related, in having a wider and longer band of 

 scales, and in other less important characters. Length 1^ inches. Puget 

 Sound, in the vicinity of Port Ludlow, Washington, where 3 specimens 

 were obtained in 1896 by Mr. Starks. {asperulus, somewhat rough.) 

 Artedms asperuUs, Staeks, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., series 2, Vol. vi, 1896, 553, Port Ludlow, 

 Washington. (Type, No. 5046, L. S. Jr. Univ. Mus. Coll. E. C. Starks.) 



713. AXYRIAS, Starks. 



Axyrias, Starks, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci.. series 2, Vol. vi, 1806, 554 (harringloni). 



Top of head with patches of ctenoid scales and cirri; a band of very 

 small scales below dorsals, and a single row of larger ones following the 

 lateral line; villiform teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; preopercular 

 spines 3, the upper short, very narrowly forked, the others small ; dorsals 

 not connected; gill membranes united, free from the isthmus; no slit 

 behind last gill; ventrals I, 3. This genus is closely related to Artedius, 

 Chitonoiiis, and Astrolytes. It difiers from Artedius in the rough head and 



