ZOOLOGY. OiO 



A NEW CALIFORNIAN FAMILY OF FISHES. 



A couple of remarkable forms were discovered, duriug 1880, in the 

 Californiau seas, by Messrs. Lockingtoii, Jordan, and Gilbert. Mr. Lock- 

 ington named the species discovered by him Icostem wnigniaHcus,* while 

 that obtained by Messrs. Jordan and Gilbert has been called Icichthys 

 LoclhujtonL] Both these forms inhabit tolerably deep water, and, indeed, 

 are known as " deep-water fish " by the fish-dealers of San Francisco. 

 The forms thus referred to differ in a number of peculiarities from each 

 other, but essentially agree and have been associated by Messrs. Jordan 

 and Gilbert under one family, to which the wa^mQ Icosteidcc has been 

 given. The chief distinctive character is the imperfection of the ossifi- 

 cation and the consequently flexible bones, as well as hmpness and 

 flabbiness of the body and integuments. The family is considered to 

 belong to the Trachinoid group, and is defined as follows : 



"Body oblong, comiu'essed. Head, moderate, unarmed; the sub- 

 orbital without bony stay. Mouth terminal, little oblique ; the premax- 

 illary not protractile; the maxillary slender. Teeth minute, sharp, 

 erect, in one series on the jaws only. Xo barbels. Gills 4, a slit behind 

 the fourth. Gill-openings wide ; the membranes free from the isthmus. 

 Gill-rakers slender. Branchiostegals 7. Dorsal and anal fins long, with- 

 out spines. Caudal fin with many recurrent accessory rays, on a slender 

 peduncle. Pectoral fins rounded, with the carpal bones slightly ex- 

 serted. Ventral fins thoracic, 1, 5, or 1, 4. Vent normal, without anal 

 papilla. Pseudobrauchiai present." 



Icosteus has a naked body (save some spinules along the lateral line), 

 and the veutrals quadriradiate (I, 4). Ickhthys has small scales, and 

 the ventrals quinqueradiate (I, 5). 



A NEW ECONOMICAL FISH, 



On the banks off the American coast, in about latitude 40° X. and 

 longitude 70° W., is found a fish in large numbers of a type previously 

 to 1879 undescribed.f It has been made known by Messrs. Goode and 

 Bean, under the name Lopholaiilus chanudeonticcps. It belongs to the 

 family LatiUdcc, and its few-rayed vertical fins and other characters ap- 

 proximate it to the genus Latilus, but it is distinguished from all other 

 representatives of the family, and, indeed, from all related fishes, by the 

 development of a large adipose appendage, resembling the adipose fin of 

 the Salmonidw, upon the nape. The labial folds upon the sides of the 



* Lockiugtou ( W. N. ). Description of a uew geuus and some new species of Califor- 

 nia Fislies {Icoatvm anigmatiais and O.wierus atteimatus), Proc. U. S Xaf. Ific^., voL 

 iii, pp. 63-68. 



t Jordan (David S.). -'"k^ Cliarlos E. Gilbert. Description of a new species of deep- 

 water Fish {Icichthijs Lockiiitjtoni) from the coast of Caliibruia. Froc. U. S. Xat. .l/»s., 

 vol. iii, pp. 305-308. 



t Goode (G. Brown), and Tarlton IL Bean. Description of a new gonns and species of 

 Fish, Loplwlatilus clmma-Jeontkeps, from the south coast of New England. Pro'.. U. S. 

 Nat.Mus., vol. iii, pp. 205,206, 1879. 



