216 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



PTEEOPHRYNE.* 



Antenuariines with skin naked and smooth; caudal peduncle free; 

 mouth oblique; dorsal spines completely exserted ; soft dorsal and anal 

 expanded vertically ; pectorals and wrists slender, and ventrals elon- 

 gated. 



Pterophryne histrio. 



Common Frog-fish. Monse-fish. 



1758 — Lophius histrio, iiwH<f, Systema Naturae, 10. ed., p. 237 ; 12. ed., 1. 1, p. 403 ; Gmel. 



ed., t. 1, p. 14H1. 

 1815— Lophius gibbus, MitchUl, Traus. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y., v. 1, pi. 4, f. 9. 

 1837 — Chironectes pictus, Cuv. cf Val., Hist. Nat. des Poissons, t. 12, p. 393, pi. 363. 

 1837 — Chirouectes tumidus, Cuv. cf Val., Hist. Nat. des Poissons, t. 12, p. 397. 

 1837— Chironectes L-svigatus, Cuv. ^ Val., Hist. Nat. des Poissous, t. 12, p. 399. 

 1837 — Chironectes nesogallicus, Cuv. ^ Val., Hist. Nat. des Poissons, t. 12, p. 401. 

 1837 — Chironectes marmoratus, Cuv. 4' Val., Hist. Nat. des Poissons, t. 12, p. 402. 

 1839 — Chironectes 1 ajvigatus, (S/orf^r, Boston Joun. Nat. Hist., v. 2, p. 383 ; Rep. Ich. 



and Her p. Mass., p. 73. 

 1842 — Chironectes Isevigatus, DeEaij, Zoology of New York, Fishes, p. 165, pi. 27, f. 83. 

 1842— Chironectes gibbus, DeEatj, Zoology of New York, Fishes, p. 164, pi. 24, f. 74. 

 1853 — Chironectes liiBvigatus, Storcr, Mem. Am. Acad. Arts aud Sc, u. s., v. 5, p. 270 5 



Hist. Fishes Mass., p. 104, pi. 18, f. 3. 

 1861 — Antennarius marmoratus, Giimher, Cat. Fishes in Brit. Mus., v. 3, p. 185. 

 1863— Pterophryne lajvigaUis, Gill, Free. Acad. Nat. Fc. Phila., [v. 15.] p. 90. 

 1878— Pterophryne histrio, Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., v. 1, p. 216. 



Pterophryne with the skin of head and body, as well as dorsal fins, 

 emitting cutaneous tentacles, which are generally most numerous on the 

 second and third dorsal spines and abdomen ; the first dorsal spine short 

 and tilamentons with a smaller tip surmounted b> a small tag; the color 

 light ibr the ground, with spotted white dots aud marked with blackish 

 brown around the ocular region, with several dark radii diverging from 

 the eyes, and on the fins more or less interrupted blackish bands, five 

 or six obliquely crossing the soft dorsal, three rectangularly crossing the 

 anal, aud others on the i)eftorals, ventrals, and caudal. 



An inhabitant of the Sargassum Seas, but occasional straggler to the 

 North American coast. 



CERATIID^. 



Pediculates nonpediculate and deprived of ventral fins, i. c, 

 Pediculates diversiform in shape, with the mouth opening more or less 

 upwards; the branchial apertures in the lower axils of the pectorals ; 

 no pseudobranchifB ; the dorsals represented by at least a frontal or 

 superior rostral spine, the pectoral members not geuiculated, with short 

 psendobrachia and three actinosts, aud without ventrals. 



Apparently inhabitants of the depths of the ocean in their adult con- 

 dition, and, in some cases at least, near the surface iu their juvenile 

 state. All the knowd species are unicolored aud blackish. 



"" Pterophryne, -repov, wmg, quasi tiu, and (bpvvrj, toad. If considered to be too near 

 rterophrynus, the genus may be called Pteropkrynoides {(ppvvoeidrig, toad-like). 



