G40 COXTRIBUTIOXS TO XORTII AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
horizontal, Ycry small. Scales becoming larger posteriorly. Caudal 
arrow-shaped, about one-fourth length of rest of body; pectoral as long 
as ventral, half as long as head. Head 5f (7 in total with caudal); 
depth Of (12 with caudal). D. VI, 21; A. I, 20. L. OJ inches. “Cali- 
fornia.” {Giinthcr.) 
(Amblyopus (Tyntlastes) sagitta Giiutlier, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1862, 193.) 
Family CV.— CHIRID^E.* 
{The Chirokls.) 
Cottoid fishes, with the body elongate, covered with small scales-, 
Y'hich are either ctenoid or cycloid; head more or less conical, scaly, 
without armature above; preopercle sometimes armed; to]) of head 
without spinous ridges, but usually with dermal flaps; a bony stay 
across the cheeks from the suborbital. Mouth large or small, with 
teeth ou jaws, and usually on vomer and palatines; teeth various. 
Gills 4, a considerable slit behind the fourth; gill-membranes free or 
variously attached. Branchiostegals 6 or 7. Pseudobranchiae present. 
Dorsal fin elongate, continuous or divided, the anterior half or more 
composed of spines; anal fin elongate, with or without spines; veutrals 
I, 5; some or all of the soft rays branched. Pyloric coeca few or many. 
Lateral line present; sometimes several lateral lines. Carnivorous 
fishes of the IXorth Pacific. Genera, 8 or 9 known; species about 15. 
(Triglida;, gronp ReterolepkUna Giiutlier, ii, 90-95: geuera Chiriis, Oplilodon, Agram- 
miis, aud Zaniolepis.) 
a. Lateral lines 4 or more ou each side; aual spines obsolete; mouth moderate; jaws 
with an outer series of sti‘ouger teeth, hut no canines. (Chirina..) 
h. Gill-memliraues broadly united, free from the isthmus; scales mostly ctenoid. 
Hexagrammcs, 351. 
aa. Lateral line single on each side. 
d. Gill-membranes free from the isthmus; preopercle armed. 
e. Anal spines obsolete; scales cycloid; mouth large, with strong canines. 
( Ojdiiodontince) Ophiodox, 352. 
ee. Anal spines 3, strong; scales ctenoid; mouth small, without canines. 
* The Chirido}, Scorpcftnidw, Cottidw, Agonidw, Triglidw, Liparididw, and Cgclopteridce 
from a closely-related series (Cataphracli), and are distinguished from all the other 
AcanLhopteri by the presence of the suborbital stay. Different writers have widely 
separated some of the members of this gi’ouj) from the others, but the relations of 
each, especially of the Scorpamidw, Agonldcr, and Liparididw, with the Cottidw are so 
close that it is difficult to draw satisfactory boundary lines. 
