452 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxiv. 



5. PETROSCIRTES ELATUS Jordan and Snyder, new species. 



Head if in length; depth 3|; depth of caudal peduncle If in head; 

 eye 3i; interorhital space 5; D. XII, 15; A. I, 16; P. 14. 



Body shor and deep; the head large, with a short, rounded snout; 

 interorhital space broad, convex; jaws with a row of long, slender, 

 curved, close-set teeth, followed on each side by a single strong canine; 

 canines of lower jaw much longer than those of upper, fitting into 

 pits in the upper jaw; tongue ver}" short; valves of mouth far back; 

 gill opening restricted to a slit about equal in width to the vertical 

 diameter of eye; pseudobranchia^ large; gill rakers on first arch 7 or 

 8, very small, pointed. Head and body naked; chin with a pair of 

 short flaps; upper part of e^^e with a long flat filament; each side of 

 neck with a small flap-like filament, below which is a minute villus. 

 Lateral line incomplete, consisting of 3 or 4 long tubes extending 

 upward and backward along base of anterior end of dorsal fin. 



Fig. 5.— Petrosciktes elatd 



Dorsal inserted on nape, the anterior part elevated; the first spine 

 highest, contained 3i times in the length; second spine of about equal 

 height, the third much shorter, equal to the following ones, 6f in- 

 length; membrane lietwecn third and fourth spines with a deep scal- 

 lop, notched between the following spines and rays, leaving the tips 

 free; rays equal in length to the posterior spines; posterior rays of 

 anal longest, 1| in head; a small fleshy knob at tip of each ray, except 

 the last three; membrane incised between the ra3's; caudal rounded, 

 4:\ in the length, the membrane scalloped between the rays, leaving 

 their tips free; pectoral rounded, its length li in head; middle ray of 

 ventral long and filamentous, reaching the vent. 



Color in spirits, lu'ownish, the upper half of side with six indistinct 

 blackish blotches; other parts of the body with rather indefinite dark 

 specks; filaments on head blackish; anterior elevated part of dorsal 



