60 BULLETIN 150, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



always present in L. atlanticus and so fail to serve as a constant 

 means by which the species can be distinguished. 



Description of the type. — D. 34; A. 27; P. 28; pyloric coeca 30. 

 Depth in length, 4.4; head, 4.5. Eye in head, 5.6; disk, 1.8. 



Body heavy anteriorly, moderately elongate. Head short, rather 

 small; cheeks swollen; profile slightly depressed over the eyes. Mouth 

 small, terminal; maxillary scarcely reaching beneath the front of tht 

 pupil. Teeth in broad bands, strongly trilobed; eight or nine oblique 

 rows in the half of each jaw. Snout projecting. Anterior nostril in 

 a prominent tube; posterior nostril not prominent, with a fingerlike 

 projection in front. Eye small. Gill sUt, small, either above the 

 pectoral or extending down in front of the upper ray. Pores on the 

 head and body normal; suprabranchial pores separated by the diam- 

 eter of the eye. "Thumb-tack" prickles scattered over the head and 

 body. 



Dorsal with the five anterior spines elongate; second spine longest, 

 a little longer than the head; tips of the elongated spines free; second 

 dorsal rays increasing rapidly in length. Caudal truncate, con- 

 nected to the anal for less than one-fifth its length; last dorsal and 

 anal rays shortened, forming a notch. Pectoral notched; the lower 

 lobe of six thickened, partly free rays, reaching midway between 

 disk and vent. Disk large, less than 2 in the head. Vent separated 

 from the disk, by 0.6 the diameter of the disk. 



Color. — Body reddish brown; the bases of the "thumb-tack" 

 prickles appear as scattered pale dots; peritoneum pale, faintly 

 dotted with brown. 



Synopsis. — Dorsal, 32-34; anal, 25-27; pectoral, 26-28; pyloric 

 coeca, 19-37, typically more than 20. Eye 5.6-6.5 in the head; 

 disk 1.8. Gill slit above the pectoral or extending down in front 

 of one ray. Spinous dorsal usually distinct, sometimes hardly 

 evident; the spines sometimes elevated. Caudal typically con- 

 nected to the dorsal for less then one-fifth its length. Prickles 

 present or absent. Color reddish brown to light olive brown; the 

 caudal faintly barred; in some specimens bars extend from the 

 dorsal and anal onto the body. A small species reachiug a length 

 of slightly more than 100 mm. 



Remarlcs. — One of the Salem specimens has "thumb-tack" prickles 

 scattered over the body as in the type. Five of the specimens 

 examined have the spinous dorsal elevated. In our specimens the 

 prickles and elevated spines are associated only with the males. 

 Both of these characters are said to be typical of the male during 

 the breeding season. The dorsal notch sometimes hardly evident. 

 As some specimens of L. liparis have a shallow dorsal notch we can 

 not depend on this character to separate the two species. 



