DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND TUEIR DISTUIBUTION. 46: 



o 



short; soft dorsal similar to the aual, which is without spines; caiulal narrow, fewrayed. 

 Pectorals Iarf,^e, witli broad base, sometimes divided, with the three lowermost rays 

 detached. Aii-bladder present; pyloric ca-ca usually present, few in numbLj. Jordan and 

 Gilbert. 



KEY TO THE AMERICAN GENERA 



(After Jordan ;iu(l Gilbert.) 



I. Pectoral fin with two or three detached appendages below; ventral.s I, 5, wide apart. 



T. Body scaly ; teeth present ; pectoral appeuda;;es 3 Tritilinrr 



A. 1 Palatines toothless TRIGI.A 



B. 2 Palatines with teeth Prionotus 



TRIGLA, Artedi. 



Trigla, Artedi, Genera Piscium, 1788, 42.— Cuvier, R^gne Animal, ed. i, 1817, ii, 301; ed. 2, 1829, ii, 158.— 

 CuviER and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 9,— Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Miis., ii, 198.— .Jordan 

 and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. Mus., 733. 



Head angular, with bony upper surface and sides. Two dorsals, the first much the 

 shorter. Three free Mlameuts at base of pectoral. Villiform teeth on jaws and usually on 

 vomer. Palatines toothless. Pectoral lius moderate; a series of bony, spinous plates 

 along base of dorsal fins, a pair to each ray, forming a shallow groove, in which the fins are 

 received. Caudal usually euuugin:ite. Scales minute. Lateral line usually forking at 

 base of caudal, with branches running to its tip. Brauchiostegals, 7. Pseudobranchiie 

 present. 



Three European species of Trigla were I'ouad by the French explorers below 100 

 fathoms. 



(1.) Triyla cucuIhs, Linn. { = Tri[il((. pint, Bloch), taken in the Gidf of Gascony in 30(i 

 meters [TravnlUeur station xvii). It is a well-known inshore form, from the British Islands 

 to the Mediterranean, where, however, it is not e-siiecially abundant. There is no satisfac- 

 tory evidence that it has ever been found in the western Atlantic. 



(2.) Trigla lyra, Jjinn., found in the Gulf of Gascony in 411 fathoms (Trarailleur sta- 

 tion VIII). 



(.3.) Trif/lK caviUotie, Lacepede [=Lepiilotri[ila aspera (C. & V.) Giiuther], taken off 

 Soudan, in 130-3.55 meters; on the Banc d'Arguin, in 140-175; off Morocco, in 120; off 

 Spain, in 90, and near the Cape Verdes, in 00. For notes on these three species see Vail- 

 lant, p. 350. 



The Challenger took Trigla leptacantha, Giiuther, and Trigla spiloptera, Giinther, ofl" 

 the Ki Islands, in 140 tiithoms (.station 102). 



Trigla heiiiisticta, Schlegel, has been found below the hundred-tiithom line in the Bay 

 of Bengal, about 40 individuals, many of them females with mature ovaries, having been 

 taken at Inoestigator station No. OG. (Alcock, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1SS9, ii, 207.) 



PRIONOTUS, Lacepede. 



Prionotus, Lac^pfede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ill, 337, 1802 (type, Trigla evolans, L.). 



Body subfusiform; profile of head descending to the broad, depressed snout, which is 

 much longer than the small eye; eyes close together, high up; surface of head entirely 

 bony, the bones rough with ridges and granulatious; scales on head fewer none; pre- 

 opercle with one or two sharp si)ines at its angle; opercle with a sharp s[)iuc; uai)e with 

 two strong spines; a spine on shoulder girdle. Mouth rather broad; bands of small, altno.st 

 granular, teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; gill-membraues nearly separate, free from 

 isthmus; gill-rakers rather long. Body covered with small, rough scales, which are not 

 keeled; lateral line continuous; scales of breast very small. Dorsal fins distinct, the first 

 of 8 to 10 rather stout spines; aual fiu similar to soft dorsal; pectoral tin with the three 



