850 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY — IV. 



473.— MALTHE Cuvier. 

 Sea Bats. 



(Cuvier, Efegne Animal, ii, 1817: type Lophius vesperiilio L.) 



Body stoutishj head very broad and depressed, triangular in form, 

 the forehead elevated and produced. Mouth rather small, sub-inferior; 

 villiform teeth in bands, on jaws, vomer, and ijalatines. Skin with con- 

 ical, bony protuberances. 13orsal and anal fins very small; rostral ten- 

 tacle present, retractile into a cavity under a bony prominence on the 

 forehead; ventrals present, I, 5, well sei^aa-ated. !No air-bladder; no 

 pyloric coeca. Coasts of America. [/jAkOrj, a name of some soft-bodied 

 fish.) 



1312. M. vespertBlio (Linn.) Cnv.—Batfish. 



Pale grayish brown above, reddish below. Distance between the 

 anterior angles of orbits much less than that between the posterior 

 angles; forehead produced in a sub-conical process, which is variable 

 in length but longer than in the other species, about iV of total length; 

 rostral groove longer than broad. D. 4; A. 4, L. 6 inches. Atlantic 

 coasts of America, chiefly southward. 



(Lophias vesperiilio Linn. Sj'st. Nat.; GUutlier, iii, 200.) 



Subsp. oasuta (Cuv. & Val.) J. & G. 



Dusky above, with round, black spots, edged with whitish. Eostral 



process short, about one-thirteenth of the lengtli of the body; cavity of 



rostral tentacle higher than broad; vent behind middle of body; width 



across arms about half length of body. Head 2. D. 4; A. 4. South 



Atlantic coast of the United States. 



(Malthcea nasuta and notata Cuv. & Val. xii, 452, 453: MaJilie notata Liitken Naturh. 

 Foren. Vidensk. Meddels. 1865, 4.) 



1313. M. CMbifrons Rich. 



Eostral cavity somewhat broader than high ; distance between ante- 

 rior angles of orbits about equal to that between the posterior angles; 

 snout not produced beyond the rostral cavity, but with a cylindrical 

 button-like tubercle slightly contracted at base, pointing obliquely up- 

 wards and forwards; caudal peduncle very thick and heavy. Head 2; 

 width across arms 2. D. 4; ^.4. Coast of Florida; the original type 

 said to have come from Labrador. Eeaches a length of more than a 

 foot. 



(Richards, Faun. Bor.-Amcr. Fisli. p. 103; Giintlier, iii, 203.) 



