ZOOLOGY, 



373 



A NEW CALIFORKIAN FAMILY OF FISHES. 



A couple of remarkable forms were discovered, during 1880, iu tlie 

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

 ington named the species discovered by liim Icosteus wnigmaticus* wliile 

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

 LocUn(jtoni.\ 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 name Icosteklcc has been 

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

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

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

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



"Body oblong, compressed. Head, moderate, unarmed; the sub- 

 orbital without bonv stav. Mouth terminal, little obbque ; the premax- 

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

 erect, iu one series on the jaws only. No 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. Pseudobranchi?c present." 



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

 and the ventrals quadriiadiate (I, 4). Iciehthys has small scales, and 

 the ventrals quinqueradiate (1, 5). 



A NEW ECONOMICAL FISH. 

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

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

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

 Bean under the name LoplioUiilus chama^leonticcps. It belongs to the 

 iamily LatiUdw, and its few-rayed vertical fins and other characters ap- 

 proximate it to the genus Laiilus, 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 Salmonidce, upon the nape. The lab ial folds upon the sides o ^jthe 



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

 nia Fishes" {Icostem (migmaticus and 0.-^merus attemmtus). Froc. U. S JSat. Mus., voL 



iii, pp. 63-68. „ • e ^ „.v» 



t Jordan (David S.), and Cliarles R. Gilbert. Description of a new «pecies of deep- 

 water Fisli {Icklitliys LocUngtoui) from the coast of California. Froc. I. *. .^at. Mas., 



vol. iii, pp. 305-308. . „ 



t Goode (G. Brown), and Tarlton H. Bean. Description of a uew genus and specie, of 

 Fish, LoplioUtllus chamcvleouiiceps, from the south coast of New England. Fro'^,. L. ^>. 

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



