678 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
ing along its surface and that of the suborbital; this ridge, somewhat 
rongli aud not covered with the scales, is continuous with the short sub- 
orbital stay; preopercular spines short, very blunt, the opercular spines 
very strong; scapular spines moderate. Gill-rakers short aud stout, 
clavate, the longest nearly one-third the diameter of the eye. Dorsal 
spines rather high and strong, the longest 2^ in head, about as high as 
soft rays, the fin not deeply emarginate; caudal fin rounded; anal fin 
high, its second spine in head, higher and much stronger than the 
third; pectorals broad, bin- shaped, 3| in length, their base one-third 
broader than the diameter of the orbit, their tips not quite reaching 
tips of veutrals. Scales rough. Peritoneum white. Head 2|; depth 
2|. D. XIII, 15; A. Ill, 7; Lat. 1. 50. L. 15 inches. San Francisco 
to Vancouver’s Island, in deep water; rare southward. A large aud 
singular species. 
{Sebastes niyrocinctus Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. ii, 25, 1S59, aud 217, f. 67: Sebas- 
tielithys niyrocinctus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1882, 278.) 
359 . — Liuuseus. 
Eascacios. 
(^Sebasfapistes Gill: Parascorpoena Bleeker: Pseudosebastes Sauvage: Pontinus Poey.) 
(Artedi; Liuuseus, Systema Naturse, 1758: type Scor 2 )(ena jm'cus L.) 
Body oblong, somewhat compressed. Head large, not much com- 
pressed, usually naked above, and armed with several series of spinous 
ridges; often with dermal flaps. Mouth large, with bauds of villiform 
teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Scales mostly ctenoid, of mod- 
erate size, often with skinny flaps. Dorsal fin with 12 stout spines; 
anal with 3 spines, the second commoidy the longest; pectorals large, 
rounded, the base usually procurrent; the upper rays divided, the lower 
simple in all our species; ventrals inserted behind pectorals. Xo air- 
bladder. Vertebrie 10 -f 14. Species numerous in the tropical seas; 
fishes of singular forms and bright colors; the variation in squamation 
and armature is very great, but if the group be further subdivided, 
some characters other than those hitherto suggested must be taken. 
The iutergradatiou of the species of Soorpmna aud Sebastodes is very 
perfect. The greater number of dorsal spines and of vertebrae afford 
the only characters known to us by which Sebastodes may be distin- 
guished from Scorpcena. [axop-atva, the ancient name of Seorpo'.na, 
scrofa^ from ffxup-toq^ scorpion, in allusion to the dorsal spines, which 
inflict a very j)aiuful sting-like wound.) 
