109. LIPARIDID.E AMITRA. 730 
ff. Ventral disk entirely '.vantiug. (Amitriii(r.) 
1 ). Lower jaw included ; skin thin, lax A:mitra, 31L*. 
cirt. Ventral disk i)rescnt. {LiparUuv.) 
c. Ventral disk very small, under the head, the vent ••lose behind it; lower juAv 
prqjecting; skin lax, tliin Careproctus, 39;'.. 
cc. Ventral disk well developed; vent well behind head Liparis, 394. 
392.— A:^IITRA Goode. 
(Goode, Proc. TT. S. Nat. Mns. 1880, 478: type Amiira liparina Goode.) 
Body elongate, attenuate haekward. eovered with lax, smooth, slimy 
skin, which is separated from the body and fins by a filmy mucous inter- 
tissue. Head small, thick, convex between eyes; snout convex, itro- 
truding; mouth small, horizontal, the lower jaw included; teeth small: 
eyes lateral; gill-openings restricted to small slits above the base of the 
pectorals, covered by the very small opercle; no barbels; dorsal and 
anal fins many-rayed; dorsal continuous, almost concealed by the skin; 
the .spines scarcely different from the soft rays; anal similar to dorsal: 
both connected with the caudal, which is pointed; no trace of ventral 
fins or sucking disk; pectoral fin very broad, imocurrent, its lower rays 
inserted nearly under the eye, the fin emarginate; vent well behind 
head. One species known; its position intermediate between the Cot- 
tidce [CottuncuhiSj Fsyclirolutes) and LiparidUFe^ two groui)s much more 
intimately related than most writers have conceded.* (a, without; 
Jurpa^ stomacher.) 
1129. A. lapsiriiaa Goode. 
Yellowish white, dusky toward the tail and front of head; perito- 
neum black. Body posteriorly comi^ressed, the tail very thin; eyes 
half width of interorbital space, 5 in head; upiier lip with pores. Dor- 
*I should put the family of Gohiesocidce far away, .at least a suhonler oft', from the 
(hjctoptei'idce and Liparididw, which are far more closely united to the true Coffido', 
represented by Coitus and UemUripterus, than to either the Gobiesodda’ proper or to the 
Gobies and Blennies. In fact, Lijyaris has as close atftnities, as shown by its skeleton, 
with Coitus and Hemitripierus as with Cyclopierus ; and we have in the three groups, 
re])reseuted by Coitus, Liparis, and CycJoptcrus, well-marked families of the same sul'- 
ordcr. The only character by which the Ciiclopteridm and Liparididce are closely united 
consists in the peculiar formation of the ventral disk by the union ot the ventral tins; 
but as this structure is simply brought about by the moditicatiou of the r.ays in a 
manner common to the several genera, .and not by any marked anatomic.al difference in 
the structure of the same fins in Coitus, I can only look upon it as a generic character 
common to the known representatives of both families f>f Cyclopterida^ and Liparidido : 
and the discovery of a representative of either family with ventral fins of the ordinai y 
forin wonld not necessitate the establishment of a fiamily tor its reception, as in that 
cace we should simply consider the structuie as of geueric value. (Putnam, Proc. 
Am. Ass. Adv. Sci, 1873, 337.) 
