GO PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



l)ESCRIB»TffO:V OF A IVKW SPEC HES OF AGOIVIBJjE (BRACHIVOPSIS 



VERKUC'OSUS), FKOM TEIE COAST OF CALIFOKIVIA. 



By W, IX. ILOCMIRJGTOJV. 



Brachyopsis verrucosus. 



D. VII-IX, 7-8. A. 10-11. P. 14-15. V. 1-3. C. 2-10, 2. Lateral 

 scutes, 34-3G. 



Form elongated, slender, lateral dorsal outline rising very gradually 

 from the snout to abo\ti the base of the pectoral ; central part of the 

 upper orbital margin elevated above the line of the forehead and occi- 

 put, as is also the tip of the lower jaw and front portion of the snout, 

 so that there is a not very conspicuous depression in front of the eye. 



From the highest point the dorsal outline descends gradually to the 

 elongated and narrow caudal peduncle. 



Abdominal outline from posterior extremity of mandible to caudal 

 peduncle straight. 



Greatest height about 11 ; greatest width 7-7^ ; length of head 4^-4^ 

 times in total length to tip of caudal (mouth closed); greatest depth 

 about 1^ in greatest width ; depth of caudal peduncle about 3| times in 

 the greatest depth. 



Mouth oblique, the lower jaw projecting considerably beyond the 

 upper, its tip entering into the dorsal outline, and its posterior extremity 

 reaching to a vertical from the anterior margin of the pupil. 



Mandible half or nearly half the length of the head. 



Maxillary short, broad posteriorly, and set at a more oblique angle 

 than the mandible, below which the lower angle of its posterior margin 

 projects when the mouth is closed, while the entire length of its upper 

 margin is hidden beneath the preorbital in the closed mouth ; a short 

 and slender barbel at its i^osterior extremity. 



Entire length of upper jaw less than ^ that of head. 



Teeth uniform in both jaws, villiform, very small, in a band which is 

 widest in front, but divided in the center. 



A patch of similar but even finer teeth (perceptible to the touch, but 

 scarcely to the eye) on vomer, and another on each i^alatine. 



Eyes directed laterally and somewhat upwards, oval, their longi- 

 tudinal diameter a little less than the length of the snout, and about 

 4^4^ in the length of the side of the head; interorbital area sunken, 

 its width about 5 times in the length of the head. 



Snout a little longer than the longitudinal diameter of the eye ; two 

 short backward-directed spines on its summit, slightly posterior to the 

 line of the tubes of the nostrils. 



Preorbital large, with several small spines on its lower margin. 



Supraorbital margin set with small spines, and rising in its posterior 

 portion to a spinulose crest. 



