170 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvii. 



50. ERISPHEX POTTII (Steindachner). 



Cocotropus pottii Steindachner, Reise der Aurora, 1897, p. 203, pi. iv, fig. 1; 

 Kobe. — Jordan and Snyder, Check List, 1901, p. 101; Yokohama. 



Head 3i in length without caudal; depth 2f. Dorsal XI, 13; anal 

 II, 10. Ventral I, 2. Lateral line with 11 pores. Eye 1 in head; 

 maxillary 2. 



Upper profile of head nearly luiifornily convex from first dorsal 

 spine to tip of snout, a slight notch between slightly produced proc- 

 esses from premaxillaries and superorbital rim. Mouth ver}^ o])lique, 

 more nearly vertical than horizontal. Lower jaw bluntly rounded and 

 strongl}'^ projecting. Anterior end of premaxillaries on a level with 

 lower margin of pupil: maxillary reaching to below middle of eye. 

 Teeth in moderate bands on jaws, growing wider in front; the patch 

 on vomer narrower than on jaws, widest at the middle; palatines tooth- 

 less, Interorbital slightly concave: li in head: a high median ridge 

 divides anteriorl}" and surrounds a pit behind premaxillar}" processes, 

 posteriorly it stops at a slight transverse depression just in front of 

 dorsal. Preorbital with 2 spines, the posterior much the larger, nearly 

 reaching to end of maxillary, the anterior small and pointing down- 

 ward and outward. Freopercle with 4 spines, the upper one the larg- 

 est, the others growing gradually smaller })elow. A blunt spine or 

 tubercle at upper -posterior edge of eye, another behind it opposite 

 base of third dorsal spine; 2 similar ones behind eye on a level with 

 beginning of lateral line. A slight ridge on suborl>itals extending 

 obliquely across cheek to upper preopercle spine. 



No slit behind last gill arch; gill-rakers with slight tubercles, 5 or 6 

 of them below angle of first arch. Head and body, l)ase of pectoral, 

 and base of dorsal and anal covered with soft hair-like papilla?. 



Fin rays all simple. Pectoral with 12 rays, the third from the top 

 the longest, reaching to front of anal or a little past. Ventrals with 

 1 spine and 2 rays, their length equal to combined length of snout and 

 eye. Anterior 3 spines of dorsal separated from rest of fin b}^ a notch; 

 the first spine a little behind middle of eye, its length 2^ in head, or 

 equal to the second; no notch between dorsal spines and rays; the 

 latter a little higher than the former; last dorsal ray adnate to caudal 

 peduncle; tips of last ray reaching base of caudal. Anal a little lower 

 than caudal and ending opposite to it; its origin midway between tip 

 of mandible and middle of caudal rays. Caudal rounded. 



Color in spirits: Uniform brownish on back and sides, or the color 

 broken up into difl'used spots as large as eye; belly lighter; fins 

 usually darker than body, and darker toward ends of rays, though 

 sometimes they are as light as body and have similar diffused spots; 

 pectoral darker toward tips of rays, the extreme tips white; inner 

 surface of pectoral similar to outer; tips of caudal rays white. 



