940 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxv. 



depth is two-thirds its width; the upper protile greatly inclined, a! 

 blunt angle forming over the eyes; snout pointed, compressed, its! 

 length two-thirds its width and also a little more than half the eye;| 

 ej'es very large, superior, almost touching each other, directed upward, i 

 and about 2f in the head; mouth large, inferior, equal to the eye, and' 

 the maxillary extending for the first third of the eye; teeth in the! 

 jaws in villiform bands; the upper jaw protrudes but very slightly! 

 be3"ond the lower; edge of preoperculum entire; operculum and sub- i 

 operculum each with strong spine posteriori}', the lower about in the | 

 middle of the height of body and the upper above and directed o])liquely j 

 upward, with its posterior portion curved; top of the head striate j 

 behind the eyes. Gill opening rather broad. j 



Origin of spinous dorsal over that of the pectorals, the first spine ! 

 the longest and equal to the space between the origins of the two pec- 

 torals, which is greater than the height of the body; soft dorsal much 

 higher than the spinous dorsal, its origin in advance of that of the ! 



Fig. 1.— Draconetta xenica. 



anal; anal high, its base a little less than the soft dorsal; pectorals 

 shorter than the head; ventrals jugular, shorter than the pectorals, not 

 reaching the vent, and one-third as long again as the first dorsal spine; 

 caudal fin long, equal to the ventral, and rounded. Caudal peduncle 

 deeper than broad, its depth 2 in the eye. 



Color in alcohol very pale brown, a little darker above, and mottled 

 and spotted with dark brown; 5 rather indistinctly defined pairs of 

 double dark-brown bars over the back; head spotted above; spinous 

 dorsal blackish; soft dorsal and anal with several narrow, wavy, longi- 

 tudinal bands; base of caudal spotted above; pectorals and ventrals 

 plain, the former with a black spot at base; sides of the trunk behmd 

 the vent and ])elow, with pale brown blotches; lower surface of the 

 body anteriorh' white. 



Here described from a specimen 2^% inches long, dredged at Station 

 3700, in Suruga Bay, at 100 fathoms, by the U. S. Fish Commission 

 steamer AJhatrom. 



