108(&). TRIGLID.E CEPHALACANTIIUS. 737 



reaching slightly beyond membrane of opercle; operclc ending in two 

 ])oints, the lower a long si)inc, the membrane conueeting the two scaly; 

 scales thin, eiliate, not closely imbricate; first dorsal spine grannlate 

 in front; pectorals rea<;hing beyond middle of unal, about to base of 

 ninth ray; free rays very slender, the uppermost more than half length 

 of fin; ventrals not reaching vent; caudal slightly emarginate. Head 

 2jf; depth 4; eye 1:\ in snout. D. X-12; A.- 11; P. 13-111; Lat. 1. o.j. 

 Deep water off San Francisco; one specimen known. 

 (Lockington, Proc. U. S. Xat. Mas. 1830, 529.) 



391.— CEPEIAiLACAWTHaJS Lac6pMe. 

 Flying Gurnards. 

 (Dactyloptcni-s Laccpi'do, iii, ;525.) 

 (Lac6pedc, Hist. Xat. Poiss. iii. 323, 1S02: type Gastcrosieits spinarclla Liun.) 



Body elongate, subquadrangular, tapering behind; head very blunt, 

 quadrangular, its surface almost entirely bony; nasals, preorbitals, 

 suborbitals, and bones of top of head united into a shield; nuchal part 

 of shield on each side produced backward in a bony ridge, ending in a 

 a strong spine, which reaches past front of dorsal; interocular space 

 deeply concave; preorbitals forming a projecting roof above the jaws; 

 ])reopercle produced in a very long rough spine; cheeks and oi)erc]es 

 with small scales; opercle smaller than eye; gill-openings narrow, ver- 

 tical, separated by a very broad, scaly isthmus; pseudobranchi* large; 

 gill-rakers minute; mouth small, lower jaw included; jaws with granu- 

 lar teeth; no teeth on vomer or palatines; scales bony, strongly keeled; 

 2 serrated, knife-like appendages at base of tail ; first dorsal of 4 or 

 o rather high flexible spines, the first one or two spines nearly free 

 from the others; an immovable spine between the dorsals; anal and 

 second dorsal short, of slender rays; caudal small, lunate; pectoral 

 lins divided to the base into two ])arts, the anterior jiortion (corre- 

 s])()nding to the free rays in Prionotus) about as long as the head, of 

 about G rays, closely connected; the posterior and larger ])ortion more 

 than twice length of head, reaching nearly to caudal in the adnlt 

 {'■'■Dactyloptcrus^'' Lac); much sliorter in tlu? young {'■'■Cephalacanthus^'' 

 Lac); these rays very slender, simple, wide apart at tip; ventrals I, 

 4, long, pointed, their bases close together, the inner rays shortest; 

 air-bladder with two lateral parts, each with a large muscle; i)y!oric 

 cceca numerous; vertebrjc -|- l.'». Warm seas; th<^ adult able to move 

 Bull. Nat. 31 us. No. 10 17 



