64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Family HI. AULOSTOMID.E. 



Body conipve.ssed, elongate, covered with .small, ctenoid scales. 

 Lati'ral line continuous. Head long-; mouth small, at the end of a 

 long, compressed tube. Lower jaw prominiMit, with a l)ar1)el at the 

 symphysis. Premaxlllary feeble, not protractile; maxillary broad, 

 triangular, with a supplemental bone. Teeth minute, in l)ands on 

 lower jaw and vomer. Branchiostegals 4. Gills 4, a slit behind the 

 fourth. Pseudol)ranchia^ well developed. Gill rakers obsolete. Gill 

 mem])ranes separate, free from the isthnms. Air bladder large. 

 Post-temporal free from cranium. Spinous dorsal present, of 8-12 

 very slender free spines; soft dorsal and anal rather long, similar pos- 

 terior, with 23 to 28 rays each; caudal small, rhombic, the middle rays 

 longest, l)ut not produced into a filament; ventrals abdominal, of 6 

 rays, all articulated; i)ectorals Itroad, rounded, the space in front of 

 them scaly. First four verte])rce elongated. Two pyloric caeca. A 

 single genus, with two species, found in tropical seas. 



4. AULOSTOMUS Lacepede. 



AulostomuH Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., \, 180o, p. 357 {chlnensis) . 

 Aulostoma Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Poiss., 1845,. p. 820; change of spelling. 

 Polytericlithijs Bleekek, Ternate, II, p. fiOS {valent'mi=cMnensis). 

 Solenostonms Gkonow, Cat. Fishes, FA. Gray, 1854, p. 146 {chinensis). 



Characters of the genus included above. 

 (avXog.^ tube; (Tto^uy, mouth.) 



5. AULOSTOMUS-' VALENTINI Bleeker. 



VvVLENTiJN, Olid- eu Nieaw-Oost-Ind., Amboyna, III, 1725, pp. 823, 448, 494. 

 I'olypterichtJi!j,i tnlentiiil Bleeker, Ternate II, alxnit 1850, p. 60S; Ternate. 

 Aitlostoma sinends Schlegel, Fauna .Taponica, 1845, p. 520; "Tres rare dans les 



mers du Japon." 

 Aulustoma chlneni^e Gv^tiikr, Oat. Fish., Ill, 1861, p. 5;>8; Ani])(>yna; Ancutum 



(not Aulostomns cldneni^i!^ Lacepede, which, after Linnauis, is a West Indian 

 epecies. 



The following description is from a specimen 48 cm. in length from 

 Honolulu. Head 3 in length; depth 11. Dorsal XI-2(»; anal 2(); scales 

 about 230. 



Bod}' elongate, compressed, the least depth just ))ehind base of pec- 

 torals where the body is constricted below. Body expanding verti- 

 cally somewhat at soft dorsal and anal, and abrupt narrowing at caudal 

 peduncle, which is long and slender with parallel sides. 



Eye contained 2f in post or])ital part of head, Ti in snout. Lower 

 •aw somewhat hooked up at tip over front of premaxlllary, jNIaxilla- 

 ries verv l>road, their width a little greater than eve and twice as long. 



«■ Fistularia c/tme?m.s Linnaeus is based chiefly in the Solenostomus caada rotundaUt nf 

 Gronow, which is the West Indian species, Aidoi^tomus coloratns. The latter species 

 should properly bear the name cliinensis. 



