678 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



ing along its surface and that of the suborbital; this ridge, somewhat 

 rough and not covered with the scales, is continuous with the short sub- 

 orbital stay; preopercular spines short, very blunt, the opercular spines 

 very strong; scapular spines moderate. Gill-rakers short and stout, 

 clavate, the longest nearly one-third the diameter of the eye. Dorsal 

 spines rather high and strong, the longest 2^ in head, about as high as 

 soft rays, the fin not deeply emarginate; caudal tin rounded; anal fin 

 high, its second spine 2J in head, higher and much stronger than the 

 third; pectorals broad, fan shaped, 3g in length, their base one-third 

 broader than the diameter of the orbit, their tips not quite reaching 

 tips of ventrals. Scales rough. Peritoneum white. Head 24; depth 

 2|. D. XIII, 15; A. Ill, 7; Lat. 1. 50. L. 15 inches. San Francisco 

 to Vancouver's Island, in deep water; rare southward. A large and 

 singular species. 



{Sebastes nigrocinctHs Ayres, Proc, Cal. Acad. Sci. ii, 25, 1«59, and 217, f. 67: Sebas- 

 tichthi/s nigrocinctus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 186-2, 278.) 



359.— SCORP^NA Linnajus. 



Mascacios. 



{Sebastajiistes Gill : Parascorj>a?na Bleeker : Pseudoseiastes Sanv age: Pontinus'Poej.) 



(Artedi; Linnjeus, Systema Naturaj, 1758: type *Scorpfp«rt j^orcHS L.) 



Body oblong, somewhat compressed. Head large, not much com- 

 pressed, usually naked above, and armed with several series of si)inous 

 ridges; often with dermal flaps. Mouth large, with bands of villiform 

 teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Scales mostly ctenoid, of mod- 

 erate size, often with skinny flaps. Dorsal fin Avith 12 stout sjunes; 

 anal with 3 spines, the second commonly the longest; pectorals large, 

 rounded, the base usually ])rocurrent; the upper rays divided, the lower 

 simple in all our species; ventrals inserted behind pectorals. 'No air- 

 bladder. YertebmB 10 + 14. Species numerous in the tropical seas; 

 fishes of singular forms and bright colors; the variation in squamation 

 and armature is very great, but if the group be further subdivided, 

 some characters other than those hitherto suggested must be taken. 

 The intergradation of the species of Scorpccna and Sehastodes is very 

 perfect. The greater number of dorsal spines and of vertebrae afford 

 the only characters known to us by which Sebastodes may be distin- 

 guished from Scorpxna. {(T/.op-aiya, the ancient name of Scorpcvna 

 scrofa, from ay.opTzui^^ scorpion, in allusion to the dorsal spines, which 

 inflict a very painful sting-like wound.) 



