PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 299 



DESCR3PT80IV OF A NEW EITIBaOTOCOm (ABEOIVA AUR©KA), 

 FKOTI ^aO-VTEKEV, C'ALaEOKNIA, WlTfil NOTES 0.\ A REL,ATEO 



By DATie S. JOKDAN aaad CHAR1.ES H. GIJLBEKT. 



Body very elongate, with dorsal and ventral outlines e^ enly curved ; 

 caudal peduncle very long, thick at base ; snout blunt and rounded, top 

 of head everywhere transversely convex and the occipital region but 

 little depressed. 



Mouth small and oblique, the lower jaw somewhat shorter than the 

 upper and included. The nuixillary reaches but two thirds the distance 

 to front of orbit 5 premaxillaries anteriorly about on a level with lower 

 rim of orbit. 



Teeth long and strong, somewhat compressed and incisor-like, arranged 

 in a close series; each tooth with three short-rounded lobes near the end, 

 the middle lobe the longest; their form precisely as in Abtona minima. 

 These incisor teeth are crowded, with the lobes ovorlapiiing, and often 

 with one slipped eutirelj^ behind the others. 



Scales of cheeks in three distinct series below, in one posteriorly. Be- 

 hind this outer row and well separated from it are, in the upper jaw, 

 from two to several distinct canines, there being usually a pair near tbo 

 middle of the jaw. G ill-rakers rather feeble, of moderate length. Lower 

 lip thin, with a frenum. 



Dorsal fin with the spines from the fifth or sixth to the eleventh, louf>er 

 than the others, about equal to each other and to the longest soft rav. 

 Pectorals not reaching as far as do the ventrals, which scarcely reach the 

 vent. Caudal forked for nearly half its length. Ventral groove almost 

 obsolete ; the distance from ventrals to vent about equals the length of 

 the anal flu. 



Lateral line with 40 to 45 scales (4-43-13). 



Color bluish black above, becoming lighter on lower half of sides 

 silvery below. Opercles and lower half of sides punctate with black 

 dots and shaded with light orange or rose red, the latter here more 

 intense on the centers of the scales. A broad grayish area extending 

 backward from the axil of the pectorals, without orange tints and dark- 

 ened by black puuctulations on the edges of the scales; this area ends 

 opposite the origin of the anal fin; above it the orange shade forms a 

 rather distinct band from the lips to the base of the caudal. Axil of 

 pectorals black, especially above. Fins plain, speclded with blackish. 

 Anal somewhat yellow. 



Fin rays: D. VIII, 17; A. Ill, 20. 



The intestines were filled with a species of Ulva, indicating a vege- 

 table diet. 



This species is known to us from fifteen exajnples taken in the bay of 

 IMonteroy, and purchased by us in the San Francisco market. 



