58 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Agmis, with the distiuguishiiig- characters of a naked body and the ab- 

 sence of a filament in the month. Dr. Gill, in 1861,* nsed the same 

 characters in transferring the same species from Urcmoscojnts to Astro- 

 scopus of Brevoort, adding some particulars as to the mailing of the head 

 and the armature of the preoperculum. The species, in fact, is covered 

 with s(;ales, which in the young are inconspicnous, but in the adult 

 may be readily counted. The genus AstroscojpuSj however, is well sep- 

 arated from Uranoscopits, and may be thus defined : 



ASTEOSCOrUS Brevoort. 

 Uranoscopus s]). Cvv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., viii, 1831, p. 41)3. 

 Asirodcopiis Brevoort, Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., Jan. 1860, p. 20.— Gill, op. cit., 



1861, p. IVS. 

 Af/niis GUNTHER, Gat. Fisli. Brit. Mils., ii, 1860, ]». -i'^S). 

 Upselowphonis Gill, op. et loc. cit. 



Head above with its crown covered with a bony plate, from the middle 

 of the anterior margin of which arises a y-shaped apophysis, the limbs 

 of which extend to the orbits. Postocular region covered only with skin. 



Preoperculum with two blunt processes t generally radiating from the 

 angle of its anterior limb, one of which is directed downwards and for- 

 wards. Humeral spine inconspicuous. Lower jaw entire beneath. Lips 

 furnished witli numerous filaments. J^To spines before the ventrals.j 

 No intralabial filament. Head and belly without scales ; the rest of the 

 body covered with small scales. Two dorsal fins ; the first comjiosed 

 of four short spines, the second about equal to the anal. 



1. Astroscopus y-graecum (Cuv. &, Val.) Gill. 



U mnoscopm ji-cjnvcum Cuv. «fe Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., iii, 1829, p. 308. — GCx- 



THER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mns., ii, 1860, p. 229. 

 Astrocopus y-f/ra'citm Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila., xii, 1860, p. 21. 

 Upselonphorus }j-p'a'cumGiLi^,o\). cit., xiii, 1861, p. 113. 



There are now two specimens of this species in the oS^ational Museum, 

 one (No. 18044) taken in the Saint John's Elver, Florida, by Prof. S. F. 

 Baird, April 2, 1877 ; the other (No. 18029) collected in the Matanzas 

 Eiver Inlet, Florida, by Mr. Joseph C. Willetts, in February, 1877. In 

 a collection of color-sketches of fishes made for Prof. Louis Agassiz, and 

 now lent by the Museum of Comparative Zoology to the National 

 Museum, are illustrations of A. y-ffra'cutu from Hampton lioads, Ya., 

 Charleston, S. C, and Pensacola, Fla. 



Description. — The greatest height of the body (.20) equals twice the 

 length of the operculum (.13). Its greatest width (.24) equals the height 

 at the ventrals (.24), and the distance of the ventrals from the snout 

 (.24). The least height of the tail (.10) is contained 10 times in the total 

 length, and e<pials the distance between the eyes (.10). The length of 

 the caudal peduncle (.08) equals that of the last anal ray (.08), and is 

 contained 12^ times in the total length. 



* Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1861, p. 113. 

 t More marked in A. ano2>lit)< tliau in A. n-f/rd'ciun. 



I These are present in Uranoscopus scahcr and V. ((sjx'i; and prol)ably in all species of 

 Uranoscopus. I am not aware that this has l)een previonsly mentioned. 



