850 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY — IV. 
473.— MAI.TIIE C iivier. 
Sea Bats. 
(Cuvier, Ri^gne Animal, ii, 1817: type Lophius vesperiiiio L.) 
Body stontisli; bead very broad aud depressed, triaiiji’iilar in form, 
tbe forehead elevated and i)rodnced. Month rather small, siib-inferior; 
villiform teeth in bands, on ja ws, vomer, and palatines. Skin with con- 
ical, bony protuberances. Dorsal and anal fins very small; rostral ten- 
tacle jiresent, retractile into a cavity under a bony prominence on the 
forehead; ventrals present, I, 5, well separated, l^o air-bladder; no 
P 3 doric cceca. Coasts of America. [paXOrj^ a name of some soft-bodied 
hsh.) 
1312. M. vespoi’tilflO (Linn.) Cnv. — Bat-fish. 
Pale grayish brown above, reddish below. Distance between the 
anterior angles of orbits much less than that between the posterior 
angles; forehead produced in a sub-conical process, -which is variable 
in length but longer than in the other species, about of total length; 
rostral groove longer than broad. D. 4; A. 4. L. 6 inches. Atlantic 
coasts of America, chiefly southward. 
{Lophius vespevtiUo Linn. Syst. Nat.; Giiuther, iii, 200.) 
Subsp. iiasiita. (Cnv. & Val.) J. & G. 
Dusky above, with round, black spots, edged with whitish. Eostral 
process short, about one-thirteenth of the length of the body; cavity of 
rostral tentacle higher than broad; vent behind middle of body; width 
across arms about half length of body. Heatl 2. D. 4; A. 4. South 
Atlantic coast of the United States. 
{Maltho’a nasuta aud notata Cnv. & Val. xii, 452, 453: Malthe notata Liitken Naturh. 
Foren. Videusk. Meddels. 1865, 4.) 
1313. M. ciibifi’OBlS Rick. 
.. Eostral cavity somewhat broader than high ; distance between ante- 
rior angles of orbits about equal to that between the posterior angles; 
snout not produced beyond the rostral cavity, but with a cylindrical 
button-like tubercle slightlj" contracted at base, pointing obliquely up- 
wards and forwards; caudal peduncle very thick and heavy. Head 3; 
width across arms 2. D. 4; .A. 4. Coast of Florida; the original type 
said to have come from Labrador. Eeaches a length of more than a 
foot. 
(Richards, Faun. Bor.-Amer. Fish. 103; Gunther, iii, 203.) 
