750 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



filaments; gill-rakers rather numerous and of moderate size; braneh- 

 iostegals strong and 6 in number. 



Head naked, the body covered with very small round cycloid scales. 



Dorsal, anal, and caudal continuous, the latter terminating in a sharp 

 point; origin of the dorsal a little behind the base of the pectoral; i 

 pectoral broad and pointed. Lateral line absent. , 



Color in alcohol plain brown, each scale on the body a little lighter; 

 pectorals pale with their basal portions brownish; gill openings black 

 inside. 



Length, ID inches (482 millimeters). '■ 



2y7>^.— No. 50576, U. S. National Museum. 



Locality, Station 3696, Sagami Ba}^ from the U. S. Fish Conmiission 

 steamer Alhdtrosx dredgings. 



Cotypes from Station 3696, in Sagami Bay, where they were dredged 

 by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Alhatross, are in the Leland 

 Stanford Junior University. 



This species is very close to BotJirocara moJlls of Bean, and is dis- 

 tinguished chiefly by the increased number of dorsal and anal rays, 

 which are at least 112 without any of the caudal rays. 



(C^^To's', soft boiled, in allusion to the cavernous head.) 



Family 111. CARAPID.E. 



PEARL-FISHES. 



Body elongate, compressed, tapering into a long and slender tail; 

 no scales; teeth cardiform on jaws, vomer, and palatines; canine teeth 

 often present; no barbels; lower jaw included; vent at the throat; gill- 

 membranes somewhat united, free from the isthmus; no pseudo-" 

 branchii^; no pyloric cseca; vertical tins very low. confluent, without 

 spines; no ventral fins; pectoral fins present or absent. Small shore 

 fishes of tropical seas, often living in shells of mollusks, echinoderms, 

 etc., being especially often commensal with the pearl oyster and with 

 the larger Ilolothuria. 



a. Pectoral fins present; no distinct caudal fin; gill-membranes connected ante- 

 riorly only Carapus, 5 



5. CARAPUS Rafinesque. 



Carapits Rafinesque, Indice. Ittiol. Siciliana, 1810, p. 57 {aruK; originally 



intended for a Gymnotus). 

 Fierasfer Cuvier, Regne Anim., 1st. ed., II, 1817, p. 2393 {imberbe = acus). 

 Echiodon TnoMPSos, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1837, p. 55 {dmmmondi). 

 Diaphcma LowB, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1843, p. 92 (ftcus). 

 Oxyheles Richardson, Voy. Erebus and Terror, Fishes, 1846, p. 74 {homei). 

 Porobronchus Kaup, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1860, p. 272 (larva of Fierasfer acus). 

 Carapus Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1864, ]i. 152 (after Rafinesque, 1810). 

 Vexillif er Gasco, Bull. Assoc. Nat. Med. Napoli, 1870, p. 59 (larva of Fierasfer 



acus). 

 Lefroyia Jones, Zoologist, IX, 1874, p. 3838 (bermudensis) . 



