732 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV.' 



free, or variously attacliecl to the isthmus. Ventral fins thoracic, usu- 

 ally wide apart, separated by a fiat area, I, 4 or I, 5. Spinous dorsal 

 present, short; soft dorsal similar to the anal, which is without spines; 

 caudal narrow, few-rayed. Pectorals large, with broad base, some- 

 times divided into two portions, sometimes with the two or three lower- 

 most rays detached. Air-bladder present; pyloric coeca usually pres- 

 ent, few in number. Singular looking fishes, allied to the CotUda\ 

 found in all seas. Genera 5 ; species about 40. 

 {Triglid(B pt. Guuther, ii, 191-210, 21G-224.) 



a. Pectoral fins, with two or three detached appendages below; ventrals I, 5, wide 

 apart. 

 J. Body mailed; teeth none; pectoral appendages 2. {Peristediincp.) 



Peristedium, 388. 

 bi. Body scaly; teeth present ; pectoral appendages 3. {Triglince.) 



c. Palatiaes toothless Trigla, 389. 



cc. Palatines with teeth Prionotus, 3110. 



aa. Pectoral fin divided to the base, into two unequal parts ; ventrals I, 4, contigu- 

 ous; gill-membranes broadly attached to the isthmus. {DacUjlopterinw.) 



Cephalacanthus, 391. 



388.— PEKISTEDIUM Lac^pMe. 



{Feristedion Lac^p^de, Hist. Nat. Poiss. iii, 3138, 1802: type Peristedion malarmat Lac. = 

 Trigla cataphracta Gmelin.) 



Body elongate, fusiform, covered with bony plates, each of which is 

 armed with a strong spine; head bony; each preorbital produced into 

 a long flat process, which projects more or less beyond the mouth; 

 niouth small; teeth none; lower jaw included, provided with barbels; 

 gill-membranes separate, narrowly joined to the isthmus anteriorly; 

 gill-rakers slender. Dorsal fin continuous or divided. Pectoral fin 

 short, with the two lowermost rays detached. Ventrals I, 5, separated 

 by a broad flat area. Air-bladder simple. Pyloric coeca about 10. 

 Warm seas. Color generally red. {-ep'-, around; areOcov^ diminutive of 

 gteOoc;^ breast; the breast being mailed.) 



1121. P. niiniiituni Goode. 



Bright crimson. Armature of body essentially as in P. hrevirostre;* 

 spines of abdominal plates very weak posteriorly ; length of preorbital 

 process 3 J in distance from its extremity to front of orbit; iuterorbital 

 space deeply concave; protuberance on the forehead very slight; a 

 pair of spines on upi)er surface of snout behind base of preorbital 

 processes ; a larger pair on preorbital processes ; ridge of preopercle 

 ending in a depressed, short, sharp-pointed spine; about ten small 



* See Guuther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. ii, 218, 1860. 



