738 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



in the air, like the true flying-fish, but for shorter distances, {/.zclmlrj, 



head; a/.w^Oa^ spine.) 



«. Occiput without filament. 



112§. C spiBiarella (L.) Lac. — Flying-robin ; Bat-fish; Volador. 



Greenish olive and brown above, of varying shades; below pale, 

 marked irregularly with dusky and bright brick-red, varying to salmon- 

 yellow; pectoral fins mottled with bright blue streaks near the base, 

 and blue spots and bars toward the tip; their under sides glaucous- 

 blue, edged with darker; caudal fin with about three brownish-red bars; 

 coloration extremely variable. First two dorsal spines free, slightly con- 

 nected by membrane at base; preopercular spine reaching beyond base 

 of pectorals, not to end of occipital spine; i^ectorals reaching nearly to 

 base of caudal. Head 4^^; depth 5^. D. II-IV, 8; A. 6; P. 28, G. L. 

 12 inches. Atlantic Ocean, on both coasts; abundant southward. 



{Gasterosteus spinarella L. Syst. Nat. i, 492 (young): Trigla voUtans Linn. Syst. Nat. 

 i, 498 (adult): Trigla volitans Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 1788, 1346: Dactylopterus voJitans 

 Giintber, ii, 221: Dactylopterus volitans Liitken Spolia Atlautica, 1880, 417; Guuther, 

 ii, 224.) 



Family OIX.— LIPARIDID^. 



[The Sea Snails.) 



Body more or less elongate, subcylindrical anteriorly, compressed 

 behind, covered with smooth skin, which is usually very lax. Head 

 broad, obtuse, the snout short; suborbital bone st5diform behind, joined 

 to the preopercle, as in the Gottldw ; jaws with bauds of small teeth, 

 which are usually tricuspid; no teeth on vomer or palatines; premaxil- 

 laries protractile, little movable; opercular bones unarmed; inter- 

 opercle slender, ray-like, overlying the branchiostegals ; gill-openings 

 small, the membranes joined to the broad isthmus, and to the humeral 

 arch below. Gills 3i; no slit behind the last; pseudobranchife. rudi- 

 mentary or wanting; pyloric coeca numerous; no air-bladder; dorsal 

 fin rather long, the spines feeble and flexible, low, similar to the soft 

 rays; anal long, similar to the soft dorsal; ventral fins I, o, the two 

 completely united, and forming the bony center of an oval sucking- 

 disk; ventrals sometimes entirely wanting; pectoral fins very broad, 

 the base procurrent; the outline usually emarginate, some of the lower 

 rays being produced; tail diphycercal; caudal fin short, convex; ver- 

 tebrte 12 + 30. Genera 3; species about 20. Small fishes, nearly all of 

 the northern seas. 



{Biscoholi ; groux) Liparidina GUnther, iii, 158-165.) 



