628 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NOETH AKEEICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



Gills 3i, a small slit behind the last. PseudobranchiaB present. No 

 anal i)apilla. Dorsal fins 1 or 2, the spinous part very short, the soft 

 l^art elongate; anal long; caudal not forked; pectoral fins with broad 

 o-blique bases, the lower rays rapidly shortened, most of them branched, 

 ventral fins jugular, close together, I, 5, the spine very short, the inner- 

 most rays the longest. Air-bladder generally absent. Pyloric coica 

 in moderate number. Carniv^orous fishes of singular appearance, living 

 on the sea-bottoms in most warm regions. Genera 7; species about 20. 



{Trachinida', group Uranoicopina Giiutlier, ii, 225-232.) 

 a. Dorsal fius 2; head without spines; no tentacle in the mouth.. Astroscopus, 33S. 



33§.— ASTrig©SCOFUS Brevoort. 

 {Agnus Giinther: Upsclonpliorus Gill.) 



(Brevoort; Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1860,20: type TJranoscopus anopJos Cuvier.) 

 Mouth large, the lower jaw without retractile tentacle within. Teeth 

 narrow, in villiform bands, on jaws, vomer, and palatines; teeth of jaws 

 depressible. ISTostrils fringed; a curved farrow behind each eye, with 

 its edges fringed. ~So spines about the head, the edges of the mem- 

 brane bones covered by smooth skin; surface of the bones rugose; a 

 broad plate on the occipital region, from the middle of which a Y- 

 shaped projection extends forward, the tips of the fork being between 

 the eyes; a trapezoidal space, covered by naked skin, bounded by the 

 Yj the eye, the suborbitals and the occipital plate. Head scaleless; 

 ba(;k and sides covered with close-set scales ; belly mostly imked. 

 Humeral spine obsolete; no spine before the ventrals. First dorsal 

 small, of about 4 low, stout, pungent spines, connected by membrane 

 to the second dorsal, which is rather high and long; pectorals and ven- 

 trals large. American, distinguished from the Old World TJranoscopus 

 chiefly by the unarmed head. [a-drSo'^^ star; a/.o-iw^ to look.) 



9^6. A. y-STsecum (C. & V.) Gill. 



Dark brown above, paler below; upper parts densely covered with 

 small rounded white spots, each surrounded by a black ring; lower 

 jaw and labial fringes similarly spotted ; spinous dorsal bhick, white 

 posteriorly; soft dorsal with 2 black and 2 white stripes; caudal black, 

 with 2 white longitudinal strijies, its ui)per and lower edges nar- 

 rowly white; anal white at base and tip, with a black median band; 

 pectorals brown, with a black baud below, the lower edge white, the 



