146 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvii. 



14. APISTUS Cuvier. 



Apisius CiTviER, Regne Animal, 10th ed., 1828 {alatas). 



Fter ichthys SwAisao^, Nat. Hist., II, 1839, p. 265 {carinatus). 



Polemius Kavp, Wiegman's Archiv. 1858, p. 333 {alatas). 



Body oblong-, compressed, covered with moderate or small scales. 

 Head without spinous crests above, the sides rough. Orbit serrate. 

 Preorbital with three spines, the posterior elongate and directed back- 

 ward; preopercle with -i to 6 spines; opercle with 2. Mouth large; 

 teeth on vomer and palatines. Dorsal tin long, beginning behind the 

 eye, deeply notched, the spines 15, the soft ra3^s 7 to 9; anal rays III, 

 T or 8. Pectorals elongate, acute, of 11 rays, connected by membrane, 

 the lower ray free. Ventral rays I, 5. Caudal tin rounded. Small 

 tishes of the coasts of southern Asia, notable for their long pectoral 

 fins and for the envenomed dorsal spines. 



{artiffToz^ perfidious.) 



a. Scales about 72 in lengthwise series; maxillary 2i in head; caudal tin with 6 or 7 



narrow cross bands erolans, 39. 



aa. Scales about 60; maxillary 2\ in head; caudal with three broad irregular dark 

 bars renenana, 40. 



39. APISTUS EVOLANS Jordan and Starks, new species. 



HIREKASAGO (LONG-FINNED ROCK-FISH). 



Apistus alatus Bleeker, Ac. Roy. Sci. Amst., 1876, p. 59, pi. iii, fig. 2; Kiusiu 

 (not ApiMus al<(tU:S Cuvier and Valenciennes, ApiMus car'matns Blocli and 

 Schneider). — Ishikawa, Prel. Cat., 1897, ]>. 50; Sagami Bay. — Jordan and 

 Snyder, Check List, 1901, p. 99. 



Head 21 in length without caudal; depth 3|; dorsal XV, 1>; anal 

 III, 8; scales 72, counting series above lateral line ruiniing down and 

 forward. Eye 4^ in head; maxillarv 2^; interorbital 10. 



Lower jaw with a well-developed knol) at symthysis strongly pro- 

 jecting and sharp at tip, fitting into a deep rostral notch. Mouth 

 oblique, the front of premaxillaries on level with lower margin of 

 pupil. Posterior margin of eye nearer tip of snout than end of oper- 

 cular flap by a diameter of the pupil. Maxillar}^ scarcely extending 

 to anterior margin of pupil. Teeth on premaxillaries in a narrow 

 band widest at sides, becoming narrow and pointed in front; a wide 

 toothless interval in front; ])and of teeth on lower jaw scarcely wider 

 in front; the palatine and vomerine l)ands very narrow; those on the 

 vomer in a sharply curved })and which is widest at the ends. Inter- 

 orbital narrow and deeply concave, having parallel interorbital ridges 

 with a narrow channel between, the ridges curve outward behind the 

 eye and are contiiuious with the sharp parietal ridges. Suborbital 

 plates verj" wide, as wide as diameter of eye and covering cheek, their 

 surface roughened with radiating ridges, as is that of opercle; along 

 their center is a ver}^ slight ridge continuous with large preopercular 



