414 contributions to north american icnthyology — iv. 



Family LXIX.— AMMODYTID^E. 

 The Sand Launces. 



Body elongate, compressed, covered with small cj'cloid scales. Head 

 long. Mouth rather large, nearly horizontal, the lower jaw consider- 

 ably projecting, the symphysis produced. Ko teeth in jaws. Gill- 

 openings very wide; gill-membranes not united, free from the isthmus. 

 Branchiostegals G to S. Pseudobrauchife large, lamellate. Gill-rakers 

 long and slender; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Opercles well de- 

 veloped, witliout spines or setratures. Eye moderate. Premaxillaries 

 very protractile. Maxillaries long and slender. Lateral line running 

 along side of back. Spinous dorsal absent (or represented by a few 

 weak spines); soft dorsal very long and low, fragile, extending from 

 behind the head to near the base of cavidal. Caudal fin small, forked. 

 Anal similar to dorsal, but smaller. Vent somewhat behind middle of 

 body. No ventral fins. Pectoral fins inserted low. No air-bladder. 

 Pyloric coeca usually 1. Genera 4, species 8. Small fishes swimming in 

 large schools and often burying themselves in the sand. Found along 

 the coasts of northern regions. 



{OphidiidcB group Aimnodijiina Giinther, iv, 384-388.) 



* Body with many transverse, oblique folds; a longitudinal fold of skin along sides 

 of belly; vomer unarmed. 



rt. Dorsal tin without spiiies Ammodytes, 204. 



aa. Dorsal lin preceded by 7 small free spines AuGYKOTiENiA, 205. 



204.-AMMODYTES Linnreus. 



Sand Launces. 



(Artedi ; Linn. Syst. Nat. : type Ammodijtes tohianus L.) 



Body elongate, lanceolate, the skin with many transverse folds run- 

 ning obliquely downward and backward, the small cycloid scales 

 mostly placed in cross-series between them. Lateral line concurrent 

 with the back. A fold of the skin along each side of the belly. Yomer 

 not armed with a bicuspid tooth. Color silvery. Vertebra? G3. {ap-nix;^ 

 sand; duw^ to dive.) 



652. A. aBnertcaBBMS DeKay. — SaiulLaunce; Sand Ed; Lant. 



Olivaceous above, silvery below ; sides with a steel-blue stripe. Pec- 

 toral fins much longer than snout, reaching front of dorsal. Lateral 

 folds 125-130. Depth equal to length of mandible, which is 2^ in head. 



