856 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



spots. Form elevated, profile convex; scales without prominent spines; 

 two or three scapular plates; first dorsal spine rug'ose, 1| in muzzle; 

 third dorsal spine well developed. Head 3^ in total length; depth If ; 

 D. III-26; A. 22. {Cope.) Newport, Rhode Island; a doubtful species 

 (probably strayed from the West Indies). 

 (Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila. 1870, 120.) 



478.— IflOlVACAlVTHlJS Cuvier. 

 (Cnvier, Regne Animal. ii,18l7: type Monaeanthus chinensis Cuvier.) 



Body short and deep, very strongly compressed, covered with minute, 

 rough scales. Mouth very small ; upper jaw with a double series of 

 incisor-like teeth, usually six in the outer and four in the inner series ; 

 lower jaw witli about six incisors in a single series ; teeth connivent, 

 unequal ; gill-opening a small slit, shorter than the eye, nearly vertical, 

 below the posterior part of the eye, and just in front of upper edge of 

 pectoral. Dorsal spine large or small ; second dorsal and anal fins simi- 

 lar to each other, of about 30 rays each ; cau<lal fin moderate, rounded ; 

 pelvic bone with a blunt spine; the bone connected by a movable flap 

 of varying size; side of tail often with a patch of spines, especially in 

 the males; no barbel. Vertebrae 7 -f 11 to 14. Species very numerous 

 in warm seas, (.a^vo?, one; axavOa^ spine.) 



a. Ventral spine movable ; dorsal spine with retrorse barbs. 



ft. Abdominal flap greatly developed, extending beyond the ventral spine. 

 (Monaeanthus.) 



1321. M. occidentalis Giinther. 



Brownish, mottled with lighter; a broad brown band across the 

 middle of the ventral flap. Scales very small, without median crest. 

 Spines becoming longer on caudal peduncle, which has in addition 2 

 or 3 pairs of strong spines curved forward, these prominent only in 

 adults; Aentral flap longer than head, about ^ length of body. Scales 

 on ventral flap developed as flat plates, with their free margins pecti- 

 nate. Snout pointed, the upper profile concave. Dorsal spine strong, 

 nearly as long as head, armed behind with 2 rows of retrorse barbs; 

 ventral spine small, rough. Head 3^;- depth 1^. D. 1-30; A. 30. 

 West Indies; occasional on our southern coasts. 



(Giinther, viii, 237.) 

 ftft. Abdominal flap moderate, not extending beyond the pelvic spine. (Stephanolepis* 



Gill.) 

 1323. ]n. broccus (Mitch.) Bek.— Fool-fish ; File-fish. 



Dull-greenish, mottled with darker ; fins olivaceous, somewhat 



*Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 18G1, 78: type Monaeanthus setifer Bennett. 

 {dnjcpScvoS, crown; XsniS, scale.) 



