76 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



I have taken the liberty to uame this species after my friend Prof. D. 

 S. Jordan, in acknowledgment of the assistance and advice I have re- 

 ceived from him.* 



PSETTICHTHYS Girard. 



Mouth large; maxillary broad, flat, extending to the front of the 

 pupil ; teeth well developed on both sides of the jaws, irregular. No 

 teeth on vomer or palatines. Eyes and color on the right side ; ante- 

 rior nostril on colored side tubular, that on blind side with a flap. 

 Lower pharyngeal teeth in a single row. Dorsal commencing in advance 

 of the upper eye; ventrals lateral; caudal entire. An accessory lateral 

 line on both sides of the body; lateral line nearly straight. Scales 

 ciliated. Branchiostegals seven. 



The only one of Girard's original characters which remains to distin- 

 guish this genus from Hippoglossoides is the more anterior commence- 

 ment of the dorsal ; as a thorough examination of specimens larger than 

 those described by that author (4| in. long) proves that ciliated scales 

 are common to both genera. The presence of an accessory lateral line is, 

 however, a character which ai)pears sufficient to warrant the separation 

 of this form as a genus or sub-genus, since it is used as a generic char- 

 acter in the PleuronectincB. 



PSETTICHTHYS MELANOSTICTUS Girard. 



D. 78-88. A. 58-62. C. 3-6-6-3. P. 11. Y. 6. ' 



Body elongated, narrow; dorsal and abdominal outlines regularly 

 curved and nearly equal from nape and ventrals to caudal peduncle ; 

 curve of snout joining that of nape over the anterior half of the upper 

 eye; abdominal outline from posterior end of mandible to ventrals 

 nearly straight. Greatest depth contained in the total length from 

 about three to a little more than two and a half times ; head four to five 

 times in the same. Eyes small, contained seven to eight times ; snout 

 (measured from orbit of upper eye to tip of intermaxillaries) about five 

 times in the length of the head ; peduncle of tail from three and a half 

 to four times in the greatest depth. Anterior nostril on colored side with 

 a short tube, the opening wide and anterior ; that on blind side with a 

 raised margin or short tube, prolonged posteriorly ; posterior nostril on 

 both sides without flap, its posterior border in advance of the anterior 

 border of the orbit. Eyes equal in front, lateral ; interocular space 

 smooth, not elevated, of variable width. Mouth large, oblique; lower 

 jaw considerably the longer, its tip, in the closed mouUi, level with the 

 lower margin of the upper eye ; a prominent symphysial knob ; mandible 

 joining the abdominal outline at an obtuse angle. Posterior extremity 

 of the maxillary extending to a vertical drawn from the front of the 

 pupil. Teeth rather small, in a single row on both sides of both jaws, 

 conical, sharp, recurved, those in front much the largest in both jaws, 

 and those in the mandible larger than those in the intermaxillaries (ex- 



