582 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
305.— SERIPHUS Ayres. 
Queen- fishes. 
(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. pt. ii, 80, 1881: type Seriphus poliiiis Ayres.) 
Body oblong, compressed, covered with rather large, deciduous, ctenoid 
scales. Head deep, compressed, cariuated behind, depressed above the 
eye. Snout blnutish, lower jaw projecting. Mouth large, oblique. Teeth 
small, shar[), separated, in narrow bands. Gill-rakers long. Psendo- 
branchiie present. Preoi>ercle with its membranaceous edge deuticulatetl. 
Fins fragile, the soft parts scaly ; dorsal tins well apart, the second nn- 
usiially small, scarcely larger than the anal, which is nniisnally large ; 
anal spines 2, feeble ; caudal tin lunate. Vertebrae 14 -|- 10, as in Otolith- 
ince. Size small. {fTipc<p()<;, a small winged insect; also a kind of worm- 
wood; the allusion not evident.) 
018. S. polatns Ayres. — Queen-fish; Kin(/-fish. 
Bluish above, sides and below bright silvery, finely punctate; ver- 
tical fins all pale yellow; base of pectorals blackish. Body oblong, com- 
j/ressed. Depth of head f its length. Mouth very large, oblique, the 
tip of the mandible on the level of the pupil, the broad maxillary reach- 
» ing to the posterior margin of the pupil. Teeth small, sharp, separated, 
in about two series in front and one behind. Gill rakers f diameter of 
eye. Scales ctenoid, very deciduous. Spines very slender. Soft parts 
of vertical fins largely covered with small deciduous scales. Dorsals 
well separated, the second inserted in advance of the anal, which ex- 
tends much further back ; caudal concave ; pectorals small, barely 
reaching tips of the small ventrals. Flesh very tender. Head 
depth 3f. D. VIII-I, 20 ; A. H, 21 ; Lat. 1. about 00. L. 12-14 inches. 
Coast of California; very abundant southward; north to San Francisco. 
(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. ii, 80, 1831 ; Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 
277.) 
Family XCIL— GERRIDiE. 
{The Gerroids.) 
Body oblong or elevated, compressed, covered with sparoid scales; 
lateral line continuous ; mouth moderate, extremely protractile, descend- 
ing when protruded, the spines of the premaxillary extending to above 
the eye, closing a deep groove in the top of the head ; maxillary with- 
out supplemental bone, not slipping under the very narrow preorbital; 
its surface silvery, like the rest of the head ; base of mandible scaly. 
