328 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxvii. 



The following is a note of the colors of a fresh specimen: Dull olive, 

 rather pale, belly still paler; dorsal and caudal dull crimson, with 

 lighter and duller shades; chin speckled with white; no bright colors. 



The above description is of a specimen 26 cm. in length from Hoko- 

 date. Other large specimens were obtained at Nemuro and Mororan. 

 Some small specimens were dredged by the IT. S. Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross off Kinkwazan Island, in Matsushima bay, stations 

 3770 and 3771. 



This species is evidentl}' the early described Cottus villosns of Pallas. 

 Hemitrijyterus cavlfrons of Lockington, from Kadiak, agrees in all 

 respects noted by the author. This species is extremely close to 

 its ally of the Atlantic coast shores of Canada and New England, 

 Hemitripterus mnericanus. The head is perhaps a little rougher in 

 the Japanese species. Dr. Schmidt regards it as identical with H. 

 atyiericanus. 



{villosus, hair3\) 



39. PSYCHROLUTES Gunther. 

 Psyc/iroZwics GuNTHER, Cat., Ill, 1861, p. 516 {paradoxus.) 



Body tadpole-shaped, tapering from the head to the very slender 

 tail, covered with very loose, naked, movable skin. Head large, 

 depressed, flattish above; snout obtuse, rounded; interocular space 

 very broad, the ocular ridges obsolete; mouth ver}^ large; mandible 

 short, little cavernous, its forms broadly U-shaped; maxillar}" entirely 

 adnate to the skin of the preorbital; jaws with bands of villiform teeth; 

 no teeth on vomer or palatines; no spines or cirri about the head; 

 suborbital stay narrow. Gill membranes united to the isthmus; gills 

 3i, no slit behind the fourth. Branchiostegals 7. Fins connected; 

 spinous dorsal of short, slender, flexible spines entirely embedded in 

 the skin and not visible without dissection as the spines do not rise 

 above level of the muscles; soft dorsal short, high, the rays close 

 together, the total number 12 to 21; anal low, of 9 rays; caudal sepa- 

 rate; pectoral fins long, with a broad, procurrent base. Ventrals 1, 3, 

 close together, distinct, the inner edge adnate to the body. Small 

 fishes, very closely allied to Coftunculus and Jfalacocottus on the one 

 hand and to the Liparididfe on the other, their characters, like those 

 of the latter family, arising from degeneration of the Cottid^. The 

 extension of the lax skin over the spinous dorsal and the bones of the 

 head afford the onlj^ tangible diagnostic character of the subfamily 

 Psychroluthiiv. From the Liparidldde., their separate ventrals distin- 

 guish them sufiSciently. Small shore fishes of the North Pacific; only 

 a single species known. 



{ipvxpoXovrrjg.^ one who bathes in cold water.) 



