582 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



305.— SEBIPHUS Ayres. 

 Queen-Jishes. 



(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. pt. ii, 80, 1861: type Seriphus politus Ayres.) 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with rather large, deciduous, ctenoid 

 scales. Head deep, compressed, carinated behind, dei^ressed above the 

 eye. Snout bluntish, lower jaw projecting. Mouth large, oblique. Teeth 

 small, sharp, separated, in narrovi bands. Gill-rakers long. Pseudo- 

 brancliiiiB present. Preopercle with its membranaceous edge denticulated. 

 Fins fragile, the soft parts scaly ; dorsal fins well apart, the second un- 

 usually small, scarcely larger than the anal, which is unusually large ; 

 anal spines 2, feeble ; caudal fiu lunate. Vertebrae 14 + 10, as in Otolith- 

 inw. Size small, [tripc^o!;, a small winged insect; also a kind of worm- 

 wood; the allusion not evident.) 



91§. S. polBtUS Ayres. — Queen-fsh; Einfi-Jish. 



Bluish above, sides and below bright silver^', finely i)unctate ; ver- 

 tical fins all pale yellow; base of pectorals blackish. Body oblong, com- 

 pressed. Depth of head | its length. Mouth very large, oblique, the 

 tip of the mandible on the level of the pupil, the broad maxillary reach- 

 ing to the posterior margin of the pupil. Teeth small, sharp, separated, 

 in about two series in front and one behind. Gill rakers | diameter of 

 eye. Scales ctenoid, very deciduous. Spines very slender. Soft parts 

 of vertical fins largely covered with small deciduous scales. Dorsals 

 well separated, the second inserted in advance of the anal, which ex- 

 tends much further back ; caudal concave ; pectorals small, barely 

 reaching tips of the small ventrals. Flesh very tender. Head 3f ; 

 depth 3|. D. VIII-I, 20; A. II, 21 ; Lat. 1. about 00. L. 12-11 inches. 

 Coast of California ; very abundant southward ; north to San Francisco. 



(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. ii, 80, 1831 ; Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 

 277.) 



Family XCIL— GERRID^. 



{The Gerroids.) 



Body oblong or elevated, compressed, covered with sparoid scales ; 

 lateral line continuous ; mouth moderate, extremely protractile, descend- 

 ing when protruded, the spines of the premaxillary extending to above 

 the eye, closing a deep groove in the top of the head ; maxillary with- 

 out supplemental bone, not slipping under the very narrow preorbital ; 

 its surface silvery, like the rest of the head ; base of mandible scaly. 



