PEOCEEDING.S OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 329 



the upper surface. A backward-directed spine on each pre-orbitah 

 IvTostrils in a depression on each side of the snout. Lower jaw received 

 ^ ithin the upper both on front and sides. Jaws, vomer, and pahitines 

 jtrmed with niiinite, sharp, closely set teeth. 



Maxillary almost entirely concealed by the free edge of the pre-orbital 

 \>'hen the mouth is closed. Two minute barbels at each angle of mouth. 

 Orbit large, almost circular, occupying far the larger portion of the 

 lieight of the head, the upper margin of the pupil touching a line drawn 

 from the upper part of the snout to the occiput. 



Gill-merabranes attached to a broad isthmus; branchiostegals seven. 



Pectoral shorter than head, broadly rounded on lower margin, and 

 composed of fourteen simi)le lays. 



Yentrals inserted posterior to the insertion of the pectorals, close to- 

 gether, consisting of a spine and two unbranched rays. 



Vent a conspicuous elliptical opening, situated at about the middle 

 of the length of the ventrals. 



First dorsal of four spines, the second longest, the fourth shortest, the 

 thiid slightly louger than the first.; its base occupying the posterior 

 portion of the seventh, and the whole of the eighth and ninth series of 

 plates. 



Second dorsal of six unbranched rays, the second slightly longer than 

 tlie first; its base occupying the fifteenth to the nineteenth series of 

 >tlates, inclusive. 



Anal of six rays, opposite and similar to the soft dorsal. 



Caudal elongate, rounded on posterior margin, and consisting of 

 eleven unbranched rays. Fin-membranes delicate. 



Thirty-five to thirty-seven series of plates from occiput to base of 

 caudal, each series strongly keeled, each keel ending in a spine ; a circlet 

 of horizontal spines around the base of the caudal. The two elongate, 

 subrectangular shields at the base of the ventrals are in the line of the 

 second series of dorsal plates, the first series terminating above the 

 l)ectorals. Twenty-seven irregular plates on the under surface of the 

 body in front of the ventral plates. Lateral line simple, along the cen- 

 ter of the lateral surfaces. 



Color olivaceous or yellowish, with six or seven darker bands of brown 

 on the dorsal surfaces. Under side uniform wliitish. Fins blotched with 

 blackish. 



Three specimens of this species are known to me ; two of them were 

 obtained in the markets of San Francisco. One of these, which maybe 

 considered as the type of the species, has been lx)rwarded to the United 

 States National Museum, and is numbered 23504 on the Museum Regis- 

 ter. The third specimen was procured on the coast of Alaska by the 

 United States Coast Survey. The aspect of this fish is that of Agonus, 

 but the presence of teeth on the vomer and palatines excludes it from 

 that genus. 



