Stark's; Ichihv(h.ogical Survkv about San Juan Islands. 189 



specimens at hand, varying occasionally to eighteen. One specimen 

 hasten dorsal spines, or one in e.xcessof the usual number. The space 

 between the bases of the first two spines is much less than that between 

 the other spines, and the tips of the spines are very soft and fine- 

 pointed. The dorsal band of scales varies from forty-seven to fifty- 

 four and is nine or ten scales wide anteriorly, countiui? obliquely. 

 The lateral band is thirty-six or thirty-seven, rarely thirty-eight. 

 The cirri are unevenly distributed along the lateral line, when present 

 being either paired or single, but entirely absent on the majority of 

 scales. As in the type, the preopercular spine is very narrowly forked, 

 and in some cases the lower fork is only slightly de\'eloped. The lower 

 jaw is slightly included, especially in the larger examples. 



Among these specimens is a male (with the anal papilla enlarged) 

 dift'ering so much from the others that it is here referred to this species 

 with some hesitation. A second male from Xanaimo, B. C, entirely 

 agrees with this specimen. The number of scales and fin-rays, the 

 general color, the shape of the bands of scales and teeth, the position 

 of the cirri, the character of the preopercular spine are all as in the 

 female specimens (the specimens in which the anal papilla is not 

 enlarged). The body however is more robust, especially in the speci- 

 mens from San Juan Island (the Xanaimo specimen is shrunken in 

 alcohol). In the females the small, simple, pointed cirrus over the 

 front of the eye, which is not longer than the diameter of the pupil, 

 is replaced in the male specimens by a cirrus as long as the diameter 

 of the eye, and with its edges along its distal half broken up into a 

 plume of many subdivisions. A multifid cirrus over the posterior 

 part of the eye does not differ greatly from that of the female except 

 that it is somewhat enlarged and thickened. In the male the membrane 

 between the anal rays is not so deeply incised, and instead of being 

 concave it is convex. The anal and \entrals are white and spotless 

 in the female. In the male they are dusky, and the anal is beautifully 

 marked with fine lines forming a lace-work of sn:all hexagons. Towards 

 the marginal half of the fin a small light spot appears at each angle 

 of the pattern, and soon the lines disappear, leaving only the spots. 

 The lower part of the head is uniformly dusky, whereas in the female 

 it is dusk\- marked with white spots and lines. 



The genus .Ixyrias is most closely related to Astrolytes, and should 

 perhaps be considered the same, especially as the lower process of the 

 preopercular spine in some cases fails to develop in the latter genus. 



