DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 273 



lengtli of head. Body covered with irregular, roundish, couical phites, varying much in size, 

 some of the larger with a central point, turned backward; all the plates with small tuber- 

 cles and slender flexible prickles; small plates along bases of all the tins; a series of (> large; 

 plates extending backward from above eye to opposite the interval between dorsals; a 

 series of 5 on each side of middle of iuterocular space from snout to na])e, these increasing 

 much in size posteriorly; a series of 3 along opercular margin; along base of spinous dor- 



sal a series of 4, not connected with that of interiu'bital space; a single large plate on each 

 side of the interval between dorsals; two longitudinal series of 4 large plates each, begin- 

 ning above base of pectorals and behind gill slits, terminating under the space between dor- 

 sals; the largest plate on body is immediately behind axil of pectoral; a smaller one below 

 it, and two others between it and origin of anal; two series of smaller plates below eye; 

 many small plates interi)osed between the series of large ones; very small plates on under 

 side of head and mieblle of tail; no plates between ventral disk and vent; none in axil of 

 pectorals. 



Eadial formula: D. vii, 11; A. 10; C. 10. 



Color, olivaceous, the skin between the plates thickly punctate. (Jordan and Oilbert, 

 from an Alaska specimen.) 



One specimen was dredged by the U. S. Fish Commission 6 miles oil' Half Way Rock, 

 Salem, Mass., August 10, 1877, in 35 fathoms. Two specimens were dredged in 1861 by 

 Prof. VerriU, off Auticosti in 10 fathoms, and another was taken by the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission at Eastport, Me., in 1872. 



It was also obtained by the Albatross from station 245G, in 47° 29' N. hit., 52° 18' W. Ion., 

 at a depth of 86 fiithoms; from station 24.50, in 46-^ 45' N. hit., 50c 02' 30" W. Ion., at a 

 depth of 44 fathoms; and from station 2445, in 46° 09' 30" N. lat., 49° 48' 30" W. Ion., at a 

 depth of 39 fathoms. 



Collett's specimens were fiom the northeastern Atlantic and from a depth of 129 

 fathoms. 



Family LIPARIDID.^. 



Family Discoboli, group Liparidina, (JOnthicr, Cat. fish. Brit. Mus., iii, 1861, 154. 



Liparididw, Gill, Arr. Families of Fishes. I87L>, 5 (No. 48) ; Century Dictionary, 3171.— Jordan and Gilbert, 



Bull., XVI, U. S. Nat. Mus., 738 (full description). —Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xm, 370, 1891.— Garmax, 



Discoboli, 1892, 43. 



Body anteriorly broad, rounded, somewhat depressed, compressed behind, covered with 

 smooth skin, which is usually very lax. Head obtuse, broad, the snout wide and blunt; 

 suborbital bone styliform behind, Joined to the opercle, as in the Cottoids. Jlouth terminal. 

 Jaws with vilUform bands of small teeth, tricuspid to simple; no teeth on vomer or pala- 

 tines. PremaxUlaries protractile, little movable. Opercular bones unarmed; interopercle 

 slender, ray-like, overlying the brauchiostegals. Gill-openings small, above base; of pec- 

 toral, with'membranes joined to the broad isthmus, and to the humeral arch below. Gills 

 3J, no slit behind the last. Pseudobrauchiie rudimentary or wanting. Pyloric c;¥Ci: nu- 

 merous. No air-bladder. Dorsal fiu long, with feeble and flexible st)incs, similar to the 

 soft rays. Anal long, similar to the soft dorsal. Ventrals, when present, completely united, 

 and forming the bony center of an oval sucking-disk, but sometinu^s entirely wanting. 

 Pectorals very broad, the base extending forward under throat; the outline usually emar- 

 19868— No. 2 18 



