628 CONTEIBUTIOXS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IT. 
Gills 3i, a small slit beliiud the last. Pseudobraiicliiai present. Xo 
anal papilla. Dorsal tins 1 or 2, the spinous part very short, the soft 
])art elongate; anal long; caudal not forked; pectoral hns with broad 
oblique bases, the lower rays rapidly shortened, most of them branched, 
ventral fins jugular, close together, I, 5, the spine very short, the inner- 
most rays the longest. Air-bladder generally absent. Pyloric coeca 
in moderate number. Caruivmrous fishes of singular appearance, living 
on the sea-bottoms in most warm regions. Genera 7 ; species about 20. 
{Trachini(l(V, group Uranoscoplna Giiutlier, ii, 2'25-'232.) 
a. Dorsal lius 2; head vitliout spines; no tentacle in the mouth.. Astroscopus, 33S. 
33§.— ASTM©S€OS»US Brevoort. 
{Aon us Gunther: Upselonpliorus Gill.) 
(Brevoort ; Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1880, 20 : type TJranoscopus anopJos Cuvier. ) 
Mouth large, the lower jaw without retractile tentacle within. Teeth 
narrow, in villiform bauds, on jaws, vomer, and palatines; teeth of jaws 
depressible. Xostrils fringed; a curved furrow behind each eye, with 
its edges fringed. No spines about the head, the edges of the mem- 
Itrane bones covered Ity smooth skin; surface of tlie bones rugose; a 
broad ])late on the occipital region, from the middle of which a Y- 
shaped projection extends forward, the tips of the fork being between 
the eyes; a trapezoidal space, covered by naked skin, bounded by the 
Y, the eye, the suborbitals and the occipital plate. Head scaleless; 
bardv and sides covered with close-set scales ; belly mostly naked. 
Humeral spine obsolete; no spine before the ventrals. First dorsal 
small, of about 4 low, stout, pungent spines, connected by membrane 
to the second dorsal, which is rather high and long; pectorals and ven- 
trals large. American, distinguished from the Old AVofld Uranoscopns 
chiefiy by the unarmed head, (ao-rowv, star; <r/.o-iu)^ to look.) 
076. A. y-graecasssE (C. & V.) Gill. 
Dark brown above, paler below; upper parts densely covered with 
small rounded white spots, each surrounded by a black ring; lower 
jaw and labial fringes similarly spotted; spinous dorsal black, white 
posteriorly; soft dorsal with 2 black and 2 white stripes; caudal black, 
with 2 white longitudinal stripes, its upper and lower edges nar- 
rowly white; anal white at base and tip, with a black median baud; 
pectorals brown, with a black baud below, the lower edge white, th:f 
