108(h). TRIGLID^. 731 



dark bar at base of pectorals; belly white. Body elongate, the tail very 

 slender, broader than deep; head narrow, the cheeks sub vertical, the 

 snout long and pointed; mouth n-shapcd, wholly inferior; distance from 

 ])re:uaxillarles to tip of nasal spines less than half snout; maxillary 

 and lower side of snout with dense tufts of long cirri as long as eye; 

 a few on mandible, none on branchiostegal region. Eye large, shorter 

 than snout, 4 in head; orbital rim prominent above only; snout with 

 two Mi>ines directed forward, then two larger ones hooked backward, far 

 behind which are two smaller ones close together, directed upward; 

 orbital bones rugose, with a strong supraocular spine only; behind it a 

 sharp occipital ridge on each side, each ending in a single spine; no pit 

 at the occiput, the vertex nearly plane; opercle and preoi)ercle strongly 

 striate, the latter with a ridge and a blunt spine;' suborbital very broad, 

 nearly as deep as eye, striate, with a double ridge at its lower margin, 

 the upper ridge with two or three spines; head with about 18 distinct 

 si)ines in all. Plates of body strongly striate, those above ending in 

 strong spines; breast with about twelve polygonal plates; slight asper- 

 ities at base of ])ectoral; ventrals very short, not longer than eye in 9, 

 about half longer than eye in <? ; pectorals large, about reaching anal; 

 caudal peduncle long, about half length of bodj' without head; dorsals 

 high in <?, the two fins closely contiguous. Head 3|; depth G. D. IX-7; 

 A. 8; Lat. 1. 37; vert. 12 + 27. L. 12 inches. Puget Sound to Alaska; 

 common northward. 



(AgoiiuH acipenscriiiHS Tilesiiia, M^m. Acad. St. Petersb. iv, 422, 1813. Af/onnx acipenseri- 

 MJtsGiiuther, ii, 212: Podofhecus peristvthus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila. IHGl, 2(iU: 

 Paraoonu8 acipcnserimiH Gill, 1. c. 1G7: Agouus acipenscrinus Jordau & Gilbert, Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. iii, 332, 1880.) 



Family CVIII (?^).— TRIGLIDiE.* 



{The Gurnards.) 



Body elongate, usually more or less fusiform, covered with scales or 

 series of bony i)lates. Head externally bony, usually entirely cuirassed 

 with rough, bony plates, some of which are armed with spines; eyes 

 high; mouth terminal or subinferior; premaxillaries protractile; max- 

 illary without supplemental bone, slipping under the preorbital; teeth 

 very small, in bands in the jaws, and usually on the vomer aiul pala- 

 tines, sometimes entirely w^anting; gills 4, a large slit behind the 

 fourth; pseudobranchiae present ; gill-rakers various; gill-membranes 



* Family 108 (a), Agonidce la included under Triglida;^ in the key to families, on page 

 79. 



