524 Bulletin 4J, United States National Museum. 



7!»!{b. OSMKKl S MORDAX ABBOTTI (Cope). 



(CoBEssicoNTic Smelt.) 



Head 4| ; depth 7 ; scales G8-16. Eye smaller, 4^ in head. Stouter. 

 Maxillary reaching posterior margin of pupil. Landlocked in Col)e8- 

 sicontic Lake, Kennebec County, Maine. (Cope). (Named for Dr. 

 Charles Conrad Al)bott, an ardent naturalist who has studied the habits 

 of the fishes of Delaware River.) 



O.W2eriis ahhQlii, Coi'E, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. Phila., 1870, 400, Cobessicontic Lake, Maine. 

 Omnertis mordax nbbolti, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 294, 1S8.3. 



794. OSMERUS DESTEX, Steiudacliufr. 

 (Rainbow IIerrino.) 



Head4i; depth 5i. D. 10; A. 13; V. 8; scales 06. Eye large, f length 

 of snout. Teeth as in Osincrns eperJanus and O. mordax; maxillary 

 reaching posterior margin of eye, its length 5 times in distance from tip 

 of lower jaw to dorsal. Height of dorsal i length of head; height of 

 anal f ; pectoral shortish, reaching halfway to ventrals. Back pale olive, 

 the scales edged with darker ; sides above lateral line purple, changing 

 below to blue, and then to violet and gold; silvery below with rosy 

 sheen, the belly satin white, fins plain, slightly golden. Coast of Alaska 

 and south on the Pacific Coast to northern China, abundant; a bril- 

 liantly colored fish, the flesh of firmer texture than in the rest of the 

 genus. About Bristol Bay this species forms an important part of the 

 food of the natives, (dentex, toothed.) 



Onmerus deiifex, Steindachner, SitzuDgsb. Kais. Aliad. Wiss. Wien, Lxi, 1870, 420, Northern 

 China; Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 203, 1883; Turner, Contr. Nat. Hist. Alaska, 102, 

 plate 10, 1886; Nelson, Rept. Nat. Hist. Coll. Alaska, 313, 1887. 



242. HYPOMESUS, Gill. 

 (Surf Smelts.) 



Mesoims, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, 108, (pretiom,).* 

 Hyponiesus, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, 169, (pretiosa). 



Body rather elongate, moderately compressed, covered with thin scales 

 of moderate size. Head rather pointed. Mouth moderate, the shortish 

 maxillary not extending quite to middle of eye its outline below broadly 

 convex ; lower jaw projecting. Teeth minute, on jaws, vomer, palatines, 

 pterygoids, and tongue. Ventrals inserted directly tinder middle of dor- 

 sal, midway between eye and base of caudal. Branchiostegals 6 to 7. 

 North Pacific, (i'no, below ; /niaor, middle ; in allusion to the position of 

 the ventrals.) 



a. Scales small, aluiut 70 in latrral line; coloration iiale; spawning in surf. pretiosu.s, 795. 

 an. Scales motlerale, abimt 58 in I;itcral line; coloration dark; s)iawningiii ponds. 



oLiDis, 796. 



* By inadvertence these two synonymous names were applied to this genus by Gill. 3re!!npiis 

 has priority of a page. It.s occurrence is liowever an error of the proofreader as its author 

 ntended to substitute Ilijjiomcfiis for it, and did so in every ])lace except in the first use of the 

 word where ilesapiix was inadvertently left. A slip of this sort should apparently bo treated as a 

 misprint and not considered in nomenclature. 



