76 BULLETIN 150, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Skin transparent, dusted above and on sides with dark punctula- 

 tions, pale or straw colored beneath; anal crossed by faint blotches; 

 outer half of the dorsal fin darkened posteriorly; caudal with a dark 

 bar near the base and a faint narrow bar near the tip of the fin. Peri- 

 toneum pale, with sparsely scattered black dots. 



Synopsis. — Dorsal 44; anal 35; pectoral 37; pyloric coeca 18. Disk 

 2.2 in head. Gill slit above the pectoral or extending down in front of 

 1 to 2 or 3 pectoral rays. Dorsal fin unnotched. Dorsal fin connected 

 to the basal fourth of the caudal. No prickles. A small-sized species, 

 our specimens reaching a length of 64 mm. 



LIPARIS AGASSlZn (Putnam) 



Ldparis agassizii Putnam, 1874, p. 339. — Garman, 1892, p. 62, pi. i-iii, (part). 



Type. — Sagahlin, Channel of Tartary. Pierce and Smith. Length 

 250 mm. 



Distribution. — L. agassizii is the common species of northern Japan. 

 The limits of its distribution to the northward are unknown but it 

 certainly is not found in Bering Sea as has been recorded. It extends 

 down on the east coast of Hondo as far south as Same and Miyako. 

 Smith and Pope (1906), record specimens obtained at the Shiogama 

 fisheries station, Matsushima Bay; these specimens may have been 

 collected elsewhere and may also belong to some other species, pos- 

 sibly L. tanalcae. The specimens examined were obtained at Otaru, 

 Aomori, Hakodate, Tomakomai, Same, Miyako, and Albatross Station 

 4808, Tsugaru Straits. A shallow-water species but apparently not 

 typical of the tide-pool fauna, at least in its southern ranges extending 

 down to a depth of 47 fathoms. L. agassizii is a common market fish 

 in northern Japan, being taken by the fishermen with hook and line 

 and with the seine. Thirty- two specimens examined. 



RelationsMp. — In many respects L. agassizii resembles L. tunicatus 

 and L. herschelinus. Besides being isolated geographically it can be 

 distinguished from these two species by the larger gill opening, the 

 increased number of pyloric coeca, and the coloration. 



Description of No. 49827, U.8.N.M. — Dorsal 43; anal 34; pectoral 

 36; pyloric coeca 67. Depth 4.8 in length without caudal; head 3.5. 

 Eye 7 in head; disk 2.4. 



Body short and heavy anteriorly, tapering gradually to the caudal 

 fin; flesh flabby. Head broad and heavy; occiput slightly swollen; 

 width of head greater than depth of head; profile depressed over the 

 eyes. Mouth broad; maxillary reaching vertical from posterior half 

 of eye. Teeth rather small and slender, arranged in about 20 oblique 

 rows in the half of each jaw, the lateral lobes well developed. Snout 

 broadly rounded; upper jaw slightly projecting. Anterior nostril in a 

 short tube; posterior nostril without tube. Eye small, the lower half 



