Ko. 1303. JAPANESE OPBIDIOW FmHES-JORDAN AN^ FOWL ER. 745 



"^HeacTnaked, except the cheeks and upper portion of the opercles, 

 which too-ether with the body, are covered with small cycloid scales 

 Dorsal, anal, and caudal continuous, the latter terminating- ma point 

 medianly, low, and of more or less uniform height; origin of dorsal 

 Lr posterior part of pectoral: pectorals short. Lateral line short 

 straight, not distinct, running high, traceal.le as far as the origin of 



^^Colm-' in alcohol pale brown with traces of darker mottlings and 

 blotches; tins darker brown; a brown spot on opercle. 



Length, 4tV inches (112 millimeters). , i t • 



Tvn<' —No 7120, Ichthyological Collections, Leland Stanford Junior 

 University Museum. A single specimen, No. 613 of Ishikawa's cata- 

 logue, from the island of Myiako-shima in the Riu Km. Presented 

 by the Imperial Museum of Tokyo. 

 [evKpVTtTi/g, one hidden.) 



yamWy IL ZOARCID.E. 



EELP0UT8. 

 Bodv elongate, more or less eel-shaped, naked or covered with very 

 .mall, 'embedded, cycloid scales; head large; mouth large, with conical 

 teeth in jaws, and Sometimes on vomer and palatines; l)ones of head 

 unarmed. Gill-membranes l)roadly united to the isthmus, the gill- 

 openinu- reduced to a vertical slit; pseudoln-anchia. present; giUs 4, a 

 slit behind the fourth. Dorsal and anal fins very long, of soft rays 

 onlv or the dorsal with a few spines in its posterior portion; vertical 

 fin^ sometimes confluent around the tail; pectorals snuill; ventrals 

 iuo-ular verv small or wanting; if present, inserted behind the eye. 

 Lateral line' obsolete or little developed, sometimes bent downward 

 behind pectorals, sometimes sending a branch on median line back- 

 ward. Gill-rakers small; pyloric ca^ca rudimentary; vent not near 

 head Pseudobranchife present. Genera about 15; species oO Bot- 

 tom fishes, chieflv of the Arctic and Antarctic seas; .some of them at 

 least are viviparous, and some descend to considerable depths. Dr. 

 Gill thus enumerates the skeletal characters of the Zo<mud^: 



Orbito-rostral portion of the cranium contracted and shorter than 

 the posterior, the cranial cavity open in front, but bounded laterally 

 bv the expansion of the annectant parasphenoid and frontals, with the 

 supraoccipital declivious and tectiform behind, the occipitals above 

 inclined forward along the sides of the supraoccipital, and theexoccip- 

 ital condyles distant, with the hypercoracoid forammate al^out its cen- 

 ter and the hypocoracoid with an inferior process convergent to the 

 proscapula. These characters are formulated from the skeleton of 

 Zoarces mig^iillorw. 



a. Zoarcin^: Dorsal fin low behind, some of its posterior rays short ^^ ^^^^^ 

 ventrals small; scales present; teeth strong, conic, m jaws only; latual hne 

 present along middle of side. 



