107. COTTIDiE BLEPSIAS. 719 



row, grooved, about half width of eye: preopercular spine with a single 

 point turned u[) wards; top of head with two series of cirri; none on 

 sides of liead, except a few on ui)per part of opercle; a series of cirri 

 along anterior half of lateral line; skin without scales or prickles; pec- 

 torals reaching beyond front of anal. Head 3f ; depth 4|. D. IX-IC; 

 A. 11; y. I, 3. Northern specimens are larger in size, with paler an<l 

 more variegated coloration and red markings; the dorsal has one or 

 two more rays, the preopercular spine is stronger and slightly hooked 

 upwards, and the oj)ercle has many more cirri above than in the south- 

 ern form. Pacific coast, from Monterey northward to Kodiak; in rock- 

 pools; rather rare. 



(Girai'd, U. S. Pac. R. R. Surv. Fish. 1858,58: Centridermidtthi/s globiceps Giinther, 

 ii, 171.) 



3^8.— BI.EPSIAS Cuvier, 

 (Peropus Bennett: Histiocottus Gill.) 

 (Cuvier, Regne Animal, 1829, ed. Sd: type Trachinus cirrhoaus Pallas.) 



Head and body compressed ; skin hispid with stifiSsh villiform 

 prickles, sometimes with definitely naked areas ; snout and chin with 

 several rather long barbels; mouth small; teeth villiform, on jaws, 

 vomer, and palatines; preopercle with two short blunt spines; gill- 

 membranes free from the isthmus; gills four, a slit behind the fourth; 

 top of head with bony ridges; suborbital stay narrow; first dorsal 

 short, elevated in front, the spines slender; second dorsal large; anal 

 similar, lower; ventrals very short, I, 3; pectorals long. Pacific coast. 

 (An old name of some fish; from ftXs-w^ to look.) 



a. Spinous dorsal emarginate; sides with naked areas. 



IIOJ. B. cirrliosus (Pallas) Giinther. 



Dark olivaceous, sides of back with four to six vertically oblong black 

 blotches edged with paler, not reaching nearly to lateral line; belly and 

 naked areas on sides whitish ; black bands radiating from eyes ; fins 

 dark, with large pale blotches and dark spots; caudal with light and 

 dark bars; ventrals plain; a small white spot on front of spinous dor- 

 sal. Supraocular ridges well developed; interorbital space concave, 

 ■with two low ridges extending backwards from nasal spines, diverging 

 towards occipital ridges; the latter large, partly interrui)ted; subor- 

 bital stay conspicuous; temporal ridge present; maxillary reaching to 

 beyond middle of pupil; snout with five barbels, chin with six, the 

 longest about as long as the eye, which is 3§ in head; a small cirrus 



