128 PROQEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xx\ai. 



26. HELICOLENUS DACTYLOPTERUS (De La Roche). 



Scorpcma dactyloptera De La Koche, Ann. Mus., XIII, 1809, pi. xxii, lig. 2; 

 Ivica, Barcelona. — Risso, Ichthyol. <le Nice, 1810, p. 186. — Gunther, Chal- 

 lenger Report, I, 1880, Pt. 6, p. 6. — Jordan and Gilbert, Synopsis, 1883, 

 p. 679. 



Sehastes dactylopterus (iv-^TYLVM, Cat., Ill, 1860, p. 99. 



Sehastopolus dactylopterus, Goode and Bean, Bull. Mus. Conip. Zool., X, 1883, 

 No. 5, p. 214. 



Helicolenus dactylopterus Goode and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, 1896, p. 249, 

 pi. Lxviii, fig. 244. 



Sebastes imperialis Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IX, 1829, p. 336; 

 Nice. 



Sebastes liilgeiidortj Doderlein, Fische Japans, IV, 1884, p. 34; Tokyo. 



Head 2i to 2| in length without caudal; depth 2f to 3. Dorsal XII, 

 1^; anal. III, 5. Pores of lateral line 26; oblique series of scales 

 below lateral line running downward and backward, 41. E3"e 2f to 3^ 

 in head; maxillary 2 to 2^; interorbital width, 8. 



Mouth large, the niaxillar}' nearl}- or quite i-eaching to below pos- 

 terior margin of eye. Lower jaw l)ut slightly' projecting; symphy- 

 seal knob small and sharp; tip of lower jaw tits in a vostral notch. 

 Bands of toeth of moderate width, rather wide at tip of premaxillaries. 

 Interorbital space very narrow and deeply concave, not narrowest just 

 behind preoculars. but nearly parallel for nearly half its anterior 

 length. A pair of ridges running very close to edge of superorbital 

 edge, between them a wide, deep channel. Cranial spines small and 

 sharp, scarcely elevated; nasal, preocular, superocular, postocular, 

 tympanic, parietal, and nuchal spines present; supraocular, postocu- 

 lar, and tympanic in line with each other and with supraorl)ital ridge. 

 Suborbital ridge rather narrow and sharp, and with scarcely percepti- 

 ble spines. Preopercle spines divergent, the next to the upper one 

 the largest. Preorbital with 2 or 3 very low lobes, but without angles 

 or spines. Gill-rakers small, 16 on anterior liml) of arch, the longest 

 three-fourths of interorbital width. 



Scales weakly ctenoid; maxiUary, mandible, preorbital, and intero- 

 percle naked. 



Fourth dorsal spine 2| to 2f in head; the twelfth, 4; the eleventh, 5. 

 Second anal spine stronger, but of equal length to third; in the 

 declined tin, the latter projects slightly beyond the second; the second 

 3 to 3|^ in head; the first one-third of second; the anal rays one-third 

 or one-fourth of second spine longer than spines. Pectoral reaches 

 just past tips of ventrals; the first 2 upper rays simple, the next 9 

 branched, and the lower 8 sim2)le, the longest ones projecting slightly 

 l)eyond the branched rays; the posterior outline of the ])ranched rays, 

 when fin is spread, obliquely truncated. Peritoneum black. 



A few dusky markings on back usualh' outlining light spots just 

 below base of dorsals, placed as in species of Sehastiscus; a dark 



